California 

,egional 

acility 


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LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
SANTA  BARBARA 


The  Journal  of  Josiah  White  is  published,  as 
giving  in  detail  the  circumstances  which  led  to  the 
introduction  of  Canal  Navigation  and  the  use  of 
Anthracite  Coal  in  Pennsylvania. 

Through  the  courtesy  of  Messrs.  George  Foster 
White  and  Daniel  S.  White,  great  nephews  of  Josiah 
White,  owners  of  the  original  manuscript,  one  hun- 
dred copies  have  been  printed  for  private  distribution, 


of  which  this  is  No. 


Presented   to 

by  The  Lehigh  Coal  and  Navigation  Company. 

Date 


J.  White's   History 


Untill  about  the  age  of  13,  I  had  thought  that  Play,  such 
as  school  boys  had,  was  the  business  which  gave  the  greatest 
enjoyment,  &  I  dreaded  the  period  when  I  should  arive  at 
manhood,  as  I  felt  I  should  then  be  ashamed  to  play ;  believing 
play  was  for  boys  &  something  of  a  usefull  character  would 
be  the  leading  object  of  man.  during  my  14th  year,  I  for  the 
first  saw  the  utility  of  Education  &  felt  a  pleasure  for  the  first 
of  my  life  in  Learning,  previous  to  this  year  I  did  not  believe 
Education  of  much  value.  My  schoolmaster,  instead  of 
impressing  on  his  Schollers  the  advantage,  Said  to  them,  here 
is  the  Rod,  pointing  to  it  &  you  know  your  lessons  to  be  got, 
&  you  get  one  or  the  other. 

About  the  age  of  15  I  went  apprentis  to  Jas  Hutton  in  1397 
Philadelphia  to  lern  the  Hardware  business,  for  the  purpose  (Shd  be 
of  lerning  a  business  that  was  to  give  me  a  living.  My 
Mother  was  invited  to  Philadelphia  (we  then  lived  in  Mount- 
holly  New  Jersey)  to  attend  the  Marriage  of  My  Aunt  Hannah 
Pryor,  with  Daniel  Drinker  &  she  took  me  along  for  the 
purpose  of  getting  me  apprenticed  to  some  business  in  Philad3. 
My  aunt  Rebecca  Redman  join'd  my  mother  &  self,  to  hunt  a 
place  for  me.  My  aunt  prefered  a  Taylor,  or  a  merchant 
taylor,  for  me.  My  mother,  urged  no  trade  in  particular,  But 
had  allways  inculcated  in  her  children  a  dislike  to  Store 
keeping  as  encourigeing,  Pride  &  Idleness  &  Rather  tending 

5 


to  a  cunning,  craftiness,  that  she  was  fearfull  would  be  a  disad- 
vantage to  us.  We  called  on  all  the  friends  we  heard  might 
want  Boys.  I  prefered  a  mechanical  Trade,  a  joiner  or  Car- 
penter as  I  was  fond  of  tools. 

We  called  (among  others)  on  Daniel  Trotter  &  John 
Webb,  Cabinetmakers,  the  former  did  not  want  &  the  Latter 
said  he  could  not  take  more  Boys.  Flour  was  dear,  &  he  could 
not  afford  to  keep  more. 

We  called  on  Wm.  Ashby  &  Benjn.  Ferguson-  Taylors, 
who  were  then  doing  a  thriving  business,  but  neither  wanted 
Boys ;  and  after  nearly  a  day's  walk  over  town,  We  Returned 
hopeless  of  finding  a  place.  On  mentioning  the  next  day  to 
my  Unkle  Dan1  Drinker,  he  said;  a  freind  of  his  wanted  a 
Boy,  at  the  Hardware  Business!!  I  knew  nothing  about  this 
business,  never  having  heard  of  such  a  business,  but  Rather 
than  miss  of  a  place,  at  once  concluded  to  go  to  My  Unkles 
friend. 

On  passing  up  2nd  St  by  Trotters  Alley,  It  occured  to 
me  that  I  was  Rather  quick,  in  entertaing  a  new  business 
&  that  it  might  not  answer  the  purpose ;  I  intended,  by  going 
an  apprentes  that  is  to  make  a  living,  &  if  it  did  not  I  would 
stay  at  Home ;  I  immediately  asked  Unkle,  if  it  was  a  business, 
I  could  make  a  living  &  money  at,  after  I  was  of  age ;  &  if  it 
was  a  Respectable  business,  &  if  the  Freind  was  a  well  dis- 
posed Man !  To  which  my  Unkle  Replied  to  all  the  questions 
affirmitively  &  then  informed  me  that  it  was  the  same  busi- 
ness he  had  followed.  I  at  once  concluded,  that  as  my  unkle 
had  made  his  money  by  it,  &  He  was  Represented  as  Ritch,  it 
was  enquiry  en°.  &  I  would  (as  I  thought  I  would)  like  any 
Business  that  answered  my  purpose,  of  gaining  a  living  in  an 
honest  way.  I  accordingly  proceeded  with  my  Unkle  about 
200  yards  further  to  His  Freind,  James  Hutton,  No.  53 
Market  St.  who  kept  a  small  Hardware  store  &  who  engaged 

6 


me  at  once,  &  I  promised  to  come  to  him  in  about  2  or  4 
weeks.  He  agreed  to  find  Boardg  &  Wash*  &  pay  me  20 
dollars  a  year.  I  was  then  about  15  years  old. 

My  Master  prooved  to  be  a  kind  well  disposed  man,  but 
a  Lazy  one,  &  left  most  of  his  business  to  me  after  I  had  been 
with  him  i  or  2  years.  Our  practice  was  to  mark  the  sterling 
cost,  on  the  goods,  &  each  article  Required  a  calculation  to  give 
the  price,  wich  was  150  166^  175  &  200  p.  C*  advance,  &  say 
10  p.  C*  on  the  latter  for  Retail,  so  that  when  my  Master  sold, 
I  had  to  be  at  his  elbow  to  calculate  the  price. 

I  also  kept  his  books  after  two  years  &  also  Blacked  his 
shoes !  &  my  mistress  told  me  if  I  did  not  help  the  Girl  bring 
her  buckets  &  tubs  of  water  from  the  River  to  wash  with, 
my  cloths  should  not  be  washed.  I  did  not  go  often  for 
Water  &  in  about  3  or  4  years  objected  to  blacking  my 
Masters  shoes.  I  allways  set  at  2nd  table  with  the  kitchen 
Girls,  after  being  a  month  or  2  in  the  City,  untill  nigh  of  age. 
My  Master  had  a  high  notion  of  the  shipping  business,  as  it 
gave  so  little  labour,  &  would  often  send  small  adventures. 
Finally  George  Pennock  &  Gideon  Hillwell  &  himself  bought 
a  quantity  of  Tryash  Coffee  &  ship'd  it  to  Hamburg,  &  Recip- 
rocally endorsed  eachothers  paper  to  pay  for  it.  On  this  my 
Master  made  £500  a  £600,  which  was  so  handsome  a  profit  & 
not  a  weeks  labour  that  it  increased  his  allready  too  idle 
habits.  He  was  now  in  debt,  &  concluded  he  would  make 
more  money  by  Building  Houses,  &  supply  Hardware  to  Car- 
penters &  take  his  pay  in  work  on  his  houses  &  by  sellg 
them  get  his  money.  However  the  more  he  Built  the  more 
he  got  in  Debt  &  the  More  His  Carpenters  got  in  debt  to  him. 

He  was  perswarded  to  set  up  a  Bakery,  &  his  Baker  made 
him  beleive  with  a  little  money  he  could  make  say  15  a  20  p  C* 
profit  &  he  would  do  all  the  labour.  He  thus  expected  the 
Cream,  to  himself,  but  this  turned  out  Skim  milk  also. 


By  the  time  I  was  near  20  years  old,  I  thought  I  had 
better  lern  another  trade,  as  this  small  business  I  was  lerning 
I  thought  not  en°,  But  this  project  was  soon  stopt  by  my 
Master  asking  me  $500  for  my  last  year,  which  I  thought  I 
could  not  afford  to  pay.  Its  true  I  was  not  bound  nor  had 
I  ever  agreed  positively  to  stay.  He  had  once  asked  me,  if 
I  was  satisfied  to  stay  &  should  wish  to  know  in  2  a  3  weeks. 
But  he  never  asked  me  further,  &  I  never  told  Him,  I  however 
stay'd  this  implyed  I  was  satisfied  &  I  then  felt  this  impli- 
cation, plenty  strong  to  bind  me,  so  I  staid  as  a  measure  of 
duty,  which  conclusion  no  doubt  was  of  after  use  to  me,  as 
it  tended  to  keep  my  habits  settled. 

I  believed  my  Master  was  loosing  money  some  2  years 
before  I  was  21  &  pressed  on  him  the  propriety  of  taking 
Stock  to  accertan  his  Real  situation.  He  had  some  3  years 
before  took  stock  &  found  he  had  made  about  $3000  a  year 
&  I  asked  him  what  he  thought  he  was  worth.  He  said  about 
$10,000.  After  freequent  pressing  him  he  agreed  to  take  stock, 
but  as  I  had  expected,  I  had  to  take  it  essentially  myself 
(owing  to  his  idle  habits.  I  found  his  Means  Reduced  to 
about  $1,000.  when  I  told  him  the  Result  he  said  he  must 
double  his  diligence 

His  wife  who  untill  then  kept  me  at  a  distance,  &  not  per- 
mitting me  to  eat  with  them,  now  asked  me  what  I  would 
advise.  I  advised  their  going  on  a  farm,  as  he  J.H.  was 
brought  up  to  that  &  was  not  active  en°  for  keep*  Store.  He 
however  continued  his  Hardware  business,  &  by  being  more 
industerous,  improved  his  Estate. 

Joseph  Dilworth  kept  a  Hardware  Store  N°.  29  Market 
St.  offd  me  his  Stock  for  sale,  as  he  had  failed  and  was  selling 
out. 

He  said  he  failure  was  owing  to  his  losses  in  a  large 
quantity  of  Sour  Wine,  which  he  said  he  bought  for  say  16% 

8 


cents,  &  as  he  thought  himself  smarter  than  common  men,  he 
had  concluded,  he  could  find  a  man,  less  fool!  than  himself 
that  would  give  him  17  cents  which  would  allow  him  a  hand- 
some gain,  but  He  said  he  found  himself  the  greatest  fool,  & 
it  broke  Him!  I  was  then  about  20^/2  years  old  &  bought  the 
old  stock  for  the  sake  of  getting  a  good  stand  for  business, 
which  was  then  verry  difficult  to  get.  I  was  of  age  3  mo  4, 
1802  &  agreed  to  take  the  Stock  &  Store  N°.  29  Market  St  on 
the  5th  of  3rd  month  1802,  Intending  not  to  loose  a  day  untill 
I  had  made  as  much  as  I  thought  en°  which  was  $40,000,  pro- 
vided I  had  attained  that  amount  before  I  was  30  years  old. 
Intending  If  I  was  successfull,  to  then  put  say  $20,000,  on 
interest  to  accumulate  as  I  expected  8  times  in  36  years,  & 
live  on  the  other  $20,000,  in  such  way  as  I  chose.  I  then 
prepcsd  buyg  a  farm  for  say  10  or  12,000,  &  have  the  farm  & 
8  or  $10,000  on  interest  to  make  me  as  nearly  independent  of 
all  necessary  business,  &  calls  from  all  quarters  as  in  the 
nature  of  things  &  will  of  Providence  I  could  be. 

My  aim  was  to  loose  no  time  untill  I  had  made  en°  & 
then  to  have  the  Balance  of  the  time  a  Good  providence  alotted 
me,  appropriated  in  such  a  way  as  would  give  me  the  most 
comfort,  the  Balance  of  my  Life,  &  be  a  good  example  to 
others  to  go  &  do  likewise,  and  thus  proove  to  the  World  that 
I  could  make  Wise  Resolutions  &  also  keep  to  them. 

About  1 8  months  before  I  was  21,  I  was  sent  alone  to 
Marden  Creek  by  my  Master  to  take  account  of  a  stock  of 
store  goods  he  had  there  in  partnership  with  Levi  Pilkington, 
this  was  about  70  miles  from  Phil3.  &  the  first  time  I  had  been 
over  40  miles  from  home 

Before  I  was  21,  I  prevailed  on  my  Mother  to  allow  me 
to  sell  my  patrimony,  so  as  to  be  Ready  to  go  into  Trade 
immediately  on  my  being  of  age  so  as  to  loose  no  time.  For 


I  well  knew  at  this  time,  I  should  go  but  once  through  the 
world !  &  a  day  lost  was  not  to  be  Regained. 

I  sold  most  of  my  Estate  to  be  paid  me  in  time  for  my 
business,  &  when  necessary  my  Mother  went  security  for  my 
performing  my  agreements  when  of  Legal  age.  My  Estate 
amounted  to  between  $5000  to  $6000,  all  of  which  I  was  care- 
full  to  confirm  early  after  ariveing  of  age 

The  old  Stock  was  about  $1,000,  &  I  ordered  from  Eng- 
land about  $5000,  to  come  in  the  spring  I  was  of  age.  But 
before  the  first  goods  came  in  in  the  spring  I  had  to  order 
goods  from  England  for  Fall,  which  I  did  to  am1  of  say  $4,000 
&  thus  I  was  fairly  with  all  my  caution  on  the  Sea  of  Credit. 

My  first  years  business  made  me  about  $3,000,  which 
however,  I  lost  the  whole  of  by  bad  debts.  After  this  year  I 
lost  but  little,  &  about  my  28th.  year  I  sold  out  my  goods  to 
my  Brother  Joseph  White  &  Sam1  Lippincott.  Having  by 
this  time  attained  the  amount  of  property  I  had  promised 
myself  as  being  en°. 

I  knew  my  propensity  for  tools  &  ingenuity  was  great,  & 
as  acquiring  property  to  my  limit  was  as  I  determined  expe- 
dient, I  gave  up  promptly  all  gratification  of  my  nature,  in 
mechanicks  of  all  kinds,  for  fear  it  would  grew  on  me  to  the 
prejudice  of  my  business,  &  being  fully  perswarded  that  the 
most  agreeable  way  of  getting  along  with  any  business,  I 
deemed  necessary,  was  to  lay  down  or  aside  all  things  that 
clog'd  this  business,  and  make  it  a  strong  point  to  endeavour 
to  like  whatever  business  I  judged  was  necessary  to  me  &  then 
to  quit  it  in  to  to. 

I  now  having  obtained  the  am*  of  property  up  to  my  early 
desire,  &  had  lost  no  time,  &  being  within  the  period  fixed,  I 
concluded  that  I  would  be  able  to  present  at  least  one  case  to 
the  World  of  a  man  see*  his  way  aforehand,  &  come  out  a 
strictly  moral  &  I  hoped  a  Religious  minded  man.  No  morn- 

10 


ing,  me  thought,  ever  opened  more  clear,  than  It  now  pre- 
sented, of  having  passed  through  One  of  my  great  Clamactrix 
of  life,  &  Realized  by  my  industry  &  integrity,  my  best  antici- 
pations!! I  now  thought  I  had  so  much  experience  to  stand 
on,  &  that  with  this  experience,  &  not,  an  abateing  feeling  to 
do  aught  but  what  was  strictly  Right  in  the  eye  of  my  Maker 
or  my  fellow  man,  I  thought  if  any  man  ever  had  good  hopes 
to  Rely  on,  for  a  peacefull,  pleasant  &  moderate  Progress  to  & 
end  of  the  balance  of  his  Life,  I  then  had!!  In  fine  I  fully 
though  my  days  work  of  toil  &  labour  was  over  &  gone  by 
for  ever!  &  that  I  now  for  the  Remainder  of  my  Life  had  to 
expect  a  full  share  of  peace  with  God  &  man,  &  I  fain  hoped 
to  be  usefull  to  the  latter,  in  person  &  in  means  &  dutifull  to 
the  former,  so  as  to  step  from  a  peacefull  journey  through  this 
world,  to  the  one  that  never  ends,  in  the  way,  that  would  be 
pleasing  to  him  who  keeps  his  mantions  allways  Ready  for 
all  those  who  do  his  Fathers  will. 

during  the  two  years  I  was  out  of  business  I  took  a  tour 
to  Georgia  by  Sea  &  Returned  by  Land.  I  was  invited  by 
Barrack  Gibbons  to  go  with  him  to  see  his  River  Plantation 
near  Savanna  He  had  just  Returned  from  a  tour  to  the  North 
(now  nth  month)  &  his  slaves  now  first  seen  him  after  his 
Return,  &  they  Received  him  as  kind  as  if  he  was  a  near 
friend ! 

I  concluded  on  the  whole,  the  Slave  owners,  had  some- 
thing to  gratify  their  pride  by  their  contrast  with  ther  slave, 
but  that  their  comforts  were  much  fewer  than  those  citizens 
in  the  north  of  the  same  wealth.  &  that  the  northern  Labour 
was  cheaper -than  the  southern,  which  cost  as  I  estimated  an 
average  of  $40  each  a  year,  considering  the  large  portion  of 
useless  persons,  &  indiferent  labourers,  &  the  small  amount 
of  labour  done  by  the  best  hand,  &  all  were  to  be  supported, 
&  in  the  Large  cities,  &  some  places  in  the  Country  they  had 


ii 


to  padrole  the  towns  &  Country,  every  night  for  fear  of  a 
Rising  of  the  Blacks.  100  Blacks  on  the  average  turns  out  but 
about  Yz  or  33  prime  hands,  the  others  are  too  young  or  too 
old,  lazy  or  wicked  or  sick. 

I  kept  generally  engaged  at  making  &  contriving  matters 
&  things  I  thought  usefull  to  myself  or  others.  I  allow'd 
myself  to  spend  $500,  a  year  in  these  gratifications. 

I  looked  out  for  a  good  farm  with  a  small  water  power 
on  to  aid  me  in  my  ingenious  notions,  &  the  farm  for  my 
living  as  before  mentioned.  I  wished  to  live  entirely  inde- 
pendent on  my  farm,  intended  to  plant  sugar  maple  to  make 
my  sugar  &c  to  carry  out  a  more  complete  independence  I 
felt  2  ambitious,  &  I  thought  it  was  but  Right  to  now  pursue 
a  plan  of  business  &  Life,  that  would  be  a  pattern  for  others, 
as  giving  the  greatest  Comfort  possible,  in  this  Life  &  prove 
by  our  exemplary  Conduct,  that  we  was  allways  Ready  to 
step  from  the  life,  that  I  had  lived  well  in,  to  the  other  which 
never  ends  in  an  acceptable  state. 

Two  years  (about)  now  elapsed  by  the  spring  of  1810 
since  I  had  declined  business.  A  water  power  was  offered 
for  sale  by  Robert  Kennedy,  of  all  the  power  of  the  River 
Schuylkill  at  the  falls,  the  fall  ^A  or  4  ft  &  a  Right  to  put 
a  Lock  which  was  to  pay  fifty  cents  a  boat  on  each  for 
passing  it  say  3  or  4  acres  on  East  side  &  say  7  or  8  acres 
&  old  Tavern  house  on  West  side  of  the  Bridge  &  adjoining  it. 

It  occured  to  me  that  this  might  be  a  Providental  case, 
&  also  carrying  out  my  old  plan. 

Here  was  an  improvement  to  be  made  by  Dams  &  Locks 
&  Resulting  in  a  large  water  power,  nearest  to  Philad3.  But 
it  would  take  Money  &  perseverence  &  injenuity  to  carry 
it  through,  &  if  I  succeeded,  it  would  lead  to  a  similar 
improvement  in  the  interior  of  Pennsa.  which  would  be  of 
great  public  good.  While  the  water  power  &  the  Falls  would 

12 


make  it  a  profitable  investment  to  me  &  fully  as  well  as  to 
invest  my  capital  elsewhere. 

But  where  was  the  person  to  undertake  it.  No  Dam  had 
ever  been  put  in  Schuyl1.  or  any  other  stream  in  this  Country  so 
large  as  Schuylkill!!  Neither  had  Locks  ever  succeed*1  in 
Pennsa.  except  2  at  York  Haven  Susqa. 

The  Schuylkill  &  Susqa  &  the  Union  Canal  had  faild  & 
was  given  up!! 

In  fact  no  public  improovement  by  navigation  Had  yet 
succeeded  in  Penns*  so  as  to  pay  any  divident ! !  The  City  of 
Philada  was  supplied  with  Schuylkill  water  by  steam  power, 
as  there  was  no  faith  in  a  water  power  from  the  Schuylkill, 
as  it  was  believed  there  was  no  security  in  any  Dams  on  so 
large  a  stream  standing. 

under  all  these  circumstances  I  thought  perhaps  I  had 
been  favoured  with  complete  success  in  my  business  for  the 
verry  purpose  of  enabeling  me  to  do  this  great  work,  &  that 
I  now  was  blessed  with  the  means  &  ability  of  body  &  mind 
to  carry  it  out,  as  I  thought.  And  that  while  I  was  carrying 
out  so  much  good  for  the  public,  I  wouuld  not  impair  my 
Estate,  or  that  it  would  increase  as  fast  as  if  I  done  no 
business  and  allowed  the  interest  to  accumulate. 

Here  was  a  choice  between  applys  my  means  &  my 
talents,  in  a  way  of  singular  use  to  My  fellow  being  &  not 
impair  my  Estate,  &  not  as  I  thought  envolve  me  in  pleage 
or  trouble,  &  thus  myself  &  others  would  be  benefited,  & 
especially  &  I  believed  I  had  discovered  the  true  plan  of  Mak- 
ing Dams  secure  by  the  manner  of  laying  the  stone  or  mate- 
rial on  it  instead  of  against  it. 

on  the  other  hand  I  could  Rent  out  my  money  on  inter- 
est, do  nothing  for  others  but  pass  down  the  hill  of  life  with- 
out good  or  harm  to  others,  &  allso  be  free  from  care  & 

13 


trouble  Here  was  the  two  Alternatives  openly  before  my 
mind  for  some  weeks  before  I  made  up  my  mind. 

I  finally  concluded  that  I  would  be  more  likely  to  be 
happy  in  this  world,  &  in  the  other  also;  if  I  took  the  course 
that  would  be  usefull  to  others,  in  all  my  undertakings  &  not 
to  eat  my  bread  alone  &  in  idleness. 

In  consequence  of  this  Resolution  I  bought  the  Falls  of 
S c buy  1  kill  for  its  water  power  &  gave  $14,000  for  it  in  the 
Spring  of  1810.  I  had  not  been  in  possession  of  it  12  months, 
before  I  discovered  I  had  jumped  out  of  the  frying  pan  into 
the  fire. 

I  had  supposed  I  could  make  the  improvement  necessary 
to  make  it  productive,  soon,  &  perfect  it  within  my  fortune! 
but  I  soon  discovered  my  error  &  instead  of  the  man  of 
Leisure,  to  Secure  myself  from  Ruin,  I  must  leave  all  my 
mechanical  amusements  &  strip  &  turn  into  the  Ruffest  & 
most  exposed  part  of  the  business,  &  in  cold  weather  up  to 
my  Brest  in  water,  to  Raise  stone  out  of  the  channel,  &  in 
truth  I  had  to  say  to  my  Workmen  come  boys,  in  the  place 
of  as  I  had  expected  after  I  had  made  my  fortune,  to  say, 
go  boys! 

Wether  my  decission  to  purchase  the  Falls  was  a  correct 
or  an  incorrect  course,  I  must  leave.  I  certainly  endeavoured 
to  feel  for  the  best  direction,  &  do  not  think  I  was  mooved  by 
any  Caprice,  or  carelessness,  in  the  conclusion!  I  supposed 
I  was  doing  all  for  the  best,  &  that  in  the  purchase  I  was 
carry*  out  my  original  Resolutions  of  complete  independence. 

But  having  got  into  the  Dilemma,  I  got  into  a  sea  of 
trouble  &  disappointment,  from  which  I  was  entirely  unable 
to  extricate  myself  with  any  propriety  for  about  7  years. 

Some  of  my  nearest  friends  during  this  trying  period 
advised  me  to  give  up  the  works  &  property,  but  this  would 
be  at  a  total  loss  of  the  property,  for  if  I  sacrafised  it  to  get 


myself  out  of  the  difficulties  It  would  be  seen  as  a  property 
equally  difficult  to  manage  to  others;  so  that  I  could  not 
expect  others  to  buy  it,  when  I  who  knew  all  about  it,  thought 
fit  to  forsake  it:  so  that  I  could  expect  to  get  comparatively 
nothing  for  it,  &  the  consequence  to  me  would  be  a  total  loss 
of  it,  (which  in  a  year  or  two  embraced  nearly  or  quite  my 
whole  Estate)  &  also  a  total  Loss  of  my  character  as  a  man 
of  decernment  &  stability  too.  And  it  Resulted  that  I  never 
had  a  fair  opportunity  to  sell  a  part,  or  the  whole  of  it  that 
I  did  not  embrace!! 

The  Winter  of  1812-13,  I  petitioned  the  Ledgeslature  for 
self  and  Co.  to  Improve  Schuylkill  by  Slackwater  Navigation, 
&  informed  the  members  of  coal  up  Schuylkill,  which  Gen- 
eral Porter  affirmed  to  me  he  had  lived  there  &  knew  there 
was  plenty,  I  told  member  of  it.  But  Fredk  Fraily  Senator 
from  Orwickbs  deny'd,  said  there  was  a  black  stone  there  but 
it  would  not  burn.  I  gave  the  Ledgeslature  the  draft  of  a  bill 
which  E.  Hazard  Father  wrote  for  me,  &  which  was  the 
Bacis  of  the  Bill  they  passed  for  the  Public  in  1814,  1815. 

during  the  7  years  from  the  4  mo  1810  to  the  i  or  2  mo 
1818,  all  my  efforts  to  emprove  my  Estate  here  so  as  to  make 
it  productive,  in  the  shape  of  Renting  it,  independent  of  my 
holding  an  interest  in  the  Rental,  by  being  a  party  in  the 
business,  proved  futile.  What  it  produced  was  what  my 
business  connections  made  it  produce.  There  was  a  prejudice 
against  the  property  as  a  mere  Rental  Estate,  so  that  the 
more  I  Rented  the  more  I  increased  my  business  in  it.  The 
difficulty  of  Renting  arose  from  its  liability  to  frequent  Back 
water  stopg  the  Mills;  I  try6  to  get  the  City  to  buy  it  to  get 
a  Water  Power  for  Raising  their  water  in  the  place  of  steam 
Power,  without  avail.  I  sold  7/16  my  Interes  to  Joseph  Gil- 
lingham,  but  this  did  not  lesson  my  interest  there,  it  only 

15 


enabled  me  &  him  to  improove  the  whole  power  by  which 
I  still  hoped  to  creep  out  by  degrees. 

I  not  only  invested  here  all  my  Estate  but  the  terrible 
fire  which  happened  4  mo  i  1815  caught  in  the  small  mill 
which  I  had  sold  J.  Gillingham  we  believe  from  the  friction  of 
the  Mill  Gudgeon,  or  some  of  the  machinery  about  Midnight 
&  burnt  down  both  mills,  this  loss  together  with  loss  in  our 
business,  obliged  me  to  begin  borrowing  money,  to  Rebuild 
&  keep  things  mov*  on,  again,  by  this  course  I  became  a 
debtor  for  borrowed  money  for  about  $20,000  by  the  time  I 
closed  my  business  here. 

This  seemed  to  be  more  of  an  apprentiship  for  something 
else,  than  a  Regular  business  to  live  by,  for  alltho  we  suc- 
ceeded in  mak*  wire  &  wrought  Rolled  Nails  &  essentially 
succeeded  in  every  branch  of  business  we  undertook,  so  far  as 
perfect  the  articles,  we  made  a  wire  Bridge  at  the  falls  410  ft 
span,  wire  fences  &c  &c  yet  none  proved  profitable.  If  I  had 
a  job  in  the  water  works,  Requiring  lowater,  I  usually  had 
high  water!  &  most  things  went  against  me,  to  prepare  me, 
seemingly,  to  endure  the  worst!! 

If  I  could  have,  like  Jacob,  in  serving  his  7  years  seen 
the  Result,  I  should  like  him  enjoyd  the  troubles  &  disap- 
pointments as  the  terms  of  purchase  of  the  Boon!  But  I 
saw  it  not,  and  when  I  discovered  I  one  day  should  fall, 
unless  I  could  get  from  this  place,  I  &  J.G.  made  the  strongest 
efforts  in  our  power  to  deal  with  Philad*.  to  supply  their 
Fair  Mount  Water.  I  examined  the  shores  down  to  Gallow- 
hill  St  Bridge  &  across  the  River  in  several  places,  one  where 
the  Dam  now  is,  &  the  other  nearly  opposite  Prats  House,  & 
then  we  offd  to  City  Councils  to  supply  them  with  3,000,000 
Gallons  of  water  every  24  hours  for  20  years  for  $25,000  a 
year  &  then  3,000,000  Gal  every  24  hours  at  $3,000  a  year  for 
ever.  Provided  they  would  issue  City  Certificats  to  make  the 

16 


improv*  on  acct  of  this  Annuity  &  also  they  to  give  us  their 
Engines  &  fixtures  at  fair  Mount  &  all  the  City  property  there 
&  shore  below  the  bridge  so  that  we  should  have  Room  to 
use  our  Surplus  Water,  below  the  Dam.  by  this  Surpluss 
water  we  expected  to  make  our  Estate  whole  (supposed  it 
would  bring  us  25  or  30,000  Doll3  a  year  &  what  we  got  of 
the  City  would  enable  us  to  make  the  whole  improvement,  & 
erect  the  mills  for  Renting,  or  perfect  the  sites  so  as  to  be 
able  to  Rent  them.  And  with  the  further  provision  that  the 
Schuylkill  Navigation  C°.  would  authorse  us  to  come  down, 
to  any  place  above  Callowhill  St  bridge,  where  we  thought 
proper  to  make  our  Dam  &c. 

The  Councils  of  the  City  appointed  a  Committee  of  3  to 
meet  with  us  viz  Wm  Rush,  Miller  &  Moore.  Rushes  objec- 
tions was  the  uncertainty  &  interruption  of  this  Power  like 
all  other  water  power  he  said  it  would  be  liable  to  freshets  &c, 
at  which  time  the  City  might  be  burnt  down. 

I  answered  this,  by  taking  the  Com6  to  a  spike  I  had  drove 
in  the  wharf  next  below  the  bridge  perhaps  a  year  ago,  which 
I  gave  the  history  of  for  a  long  time,  &  thus  proovs  by  my 
Records  as  I  had  expected,  that  this  place  was  hardly  liable 
to  freshets,  &  that  a  5  ft  fresh  over  the  Dam  at  the  Falls  was 
not  over  5  inches  here,  owing  to  the  Water  being  so  deep  & 
wide  (25  ft  deep)  a  small  acceleration  of  the  water  by  a  small 
Rise  with  this  great  depth  would  take  off  all  freshets,  but  still 
they  professed  to  be  not  Satisfied  &  after  a  discussion  for  sev- 
eral months  it  was  given  up,  perhaps  owing  to  the  Schuylkill 
C°  declineing  to  let  us  moove  our  Dam ;  Unless  we  would  take 
$100,000  of  their  stock  at  par,  which  we  were  unable  to  do. 

We  closed  our  vew  of  dealing  with  the  City  in  the  IIth 
Month  1817,  &  my  situation  at  the  Falls  looked  to  me  like 
inevitable  Ruin  of  my  whole  Estate  unless  I  could  get  away 
from  it  &  into  some  other  business.  We  desired  the  Schuyl- 

17 


Proposed 
temporary 
Impt 
to    Schl 


Scbuylkill    Co. 
Refuse  a  less  toll 
than  $12  ton 


Offer  sc.  bu 


My   fears 

of  Ruin 

Gillm   wont 
lend   his  horse 


Hautos   first 
intoduction 


kill  Nav"  Board  to  allow  us  to  make  some  temporary  improve- 
ment of  the  Sch1  &  use  it  at  a  toll  of  5  cents  a  bu  $1.20  a 
ton,  to  this  they  objected  &  informed  us  that  a  discount  of 
15  or  25  p  C*  less  than  the  cost  on  a  Turnpike  was  all  we 
ought  to  expect  from  them  &  all  they  should  grant  &  as  a 
Turnpike  cost  15  or  16  cts  a  ton  a  Mile  this  would  leave  12 
cents  a  ton  a  Mile  &  the  distance  from  the  Coal  mines  to  the 
Falls  being  say  100  miles  would  make  the  cost  of  coal  freight 
$12  a  ton,  entirely  discouraged  me  from  any  further  effort  to 
use  the  Schuylkill  Navig™. 

I  told  them  that,  adhereing  to  such  terms  would  distroy 
the  usefullness  of  their  Navig".  &  would  drive  the  trade  in 
coal  to  the  Lehigh,  where  I  had  lernt  there  was  perhaps  more 
than  in  Schuylkill,  &  once  there  or  that  River  improved  they 
might  agree  to  5  c  a  bu,  but  that  would  not  give  them  the 
trade,  they  spurned  at  my  offer  of  5  c  a  bu  &  laughed  at  our 
pretended  Rivalship  from  Lehigh,  &  thus  ended  our  last  inter- 
course with  them  on  the  subject  of  using  their  navigation.  I 
felt  much  in  the  dark  for  what  course  to  take  seeing  as  I 
plainly  did,  nothing  but  Ruin  by  staying  at  the  Falls. 

I  proposed  to  Jos  Gillingham  to  loan  me  his  Horse  to 
visit  the  Lehigh  to  examine  it  &  the  mines  (for  I  had  none  & 
felt  the  loss  of  the  money  the  hireing  one  would  cost)  but  Jos 
G  Refused,  so  that  I  concluded,  If  anything  favourable 
Resulted,  I  would  keep  him  clear  of  it 

I  had  made  enquiry  into  the  ownership  &  condition  of  the 
Lehigh  mines  &  Lehigh  River  &  determined  to  visit  it  to  see  if 
any  thing  could  be  done  with  them.  Geo.  F.  A.  Hauto,  was 
in  the  practice  of  occationally  visiting  us  at  the  falls,  to  talk 
about  mashinery  &c  &  I  told  him  of  my  intention  to  visit  the 
Lehigh  for  inspection,  he  sd  he  had  a  notion  of  going  up 
Schuylkill  to  see  their  mines,  &  might  as  well  go  up  Lehigh, 
as  he  would  have  Company. 

18 


Wm  Brigs  my  Stone  Mason,  also  wanted  a  Ride  some- 
where &  He  also  concluded  to  go  with  us;  so  we  3  went  on 
Horseback  &  got  to  Bethlehem  on  Christmas  Eve  1817.  We 
staid  at  Klutz  at  Lawsane,  &  Jno  Hogenback  at  Lehighton  as 
the  places  nearest  to  the  mines  where  we  could  board,  while  First  vis»* 

to  Lehigb 

visiting  them,  which  took  about  one  week,  being  one  Eleven 
miles  off  &  the  other  12  miles  off. 

The  plan  I  concluded  on  was  the  plan  we  subsequently 
adopted,  which  was  to  in  first  place  smoothen  the  old  Road 
of  9  miles  which  the  old  Co  had  raised  io£  to  make  to  get  some 
coal  down,  to  make  a  noise  in  Phil3.  &  on  succeeding  to  Raise 
money  afterwards,  to  make  a  Road  of  a  Grade  which  would 
do  for  a  Rail  Road  ultimately  if  we  succeeded  in  sells  coal, 
with  an  uninterrupted  declivity.  And  improve  the  River  by  Plan  of  Channel 
contracting  the  channel  funnel  fasion  to  bring  the  whole  flow 
of  the  water  at  each  of  the  falls,  to  as  narrow  a  compas,  as  the 
law  we  could  get  would  allow,  by  throwing  up  the  Round 
River  stones  into  low  walls,  not  higher  than  we  wanted  to 
Raise  the  water,  thus -  . — _ 


&  if  we  had  not  water  sufficient  for  the  Required  depth  of  15 

or  1 8  inches  in  by  the  natural  flow  to  make  Artificial  Freshets 

to  seecure  any  deffitiences,  that  is  by  ponding  up  the  water 

say  as  many  acres  as  we  could  get,  &  letting  it  off  periodically 

say  once  in  3  days,  I  supposed  we  could  gather  en°  water,  to 

ensure  our  Required  depth  &  thus  have  a  Regular  decending 

Navigation,     the  plan  of  Locks  &  gates  for  letting  out  the 

freshet  in  a  proper  manner  I  took  for  granted  I  could  devise, 

if  found  necessary  &  so  left  that  part  for  the  present.     On 

Returning  Home  It  was  concluded  that  Myself  G  F  A  Hauto 

&  Erskine  Hazard  would  Join  in  the  enterprise.     I  was  to  OUT  3 

find  plan,  &  Hauto  the  money  through  his  friends  &  Erskine  first  agreeing 

19 


the  Skribe  &  a  good  mechanic  &  excellent  councellor.  Hoto 
assured  us  the  larger  the  plan  the  easier  it  would  be  for  him 
to  Raise  the  money,  through  his  Ritch  Friends. 

Our  speculation  was  for  to  procure  the  Property  of  the 
Mines  &  River,  which  with  our  plan  should  support  itself!! 
especially  as  neither  of  us  had  any  money  we  could  then  com- 

Procure  Lease       mand ! ! !    We  3  at  once  set  about  to  get  a  lease  of  20  years  on 
of  Coal  Lands        the  Lehigh  Mine  QO    Coal  lands  of  IO>OOO  acres  {or  One  Ear 

of  corn  a  year,  if  demanded  &  from  &  after  3  years  to  send  to 

Philad3.  at  least  40,000  bu  of  Anthracite  coal  pr  year  on  our 

own  account,  so  as  to  be  sure  of  introducing  this  coal  into 

market,  by  which  means  they  would  hope  to  make  their  mines 

valuable,  for  thus  far  they  had  prooved  valueless  to  the  Lehigh 

ow  abortion          Coal  Mine  C°.     After  several  efforts  to  get  out  coal  They  had 

nines  &  River   in  about  lgog  let  Rowian<j  &  Butland  have  gratuously  coal,  on 

Room  Run  &  Iron  ore  &  Timber  for  boats  for  a  number  of 
years  but  they  were  discouraged  without  tryal,  &  in  1812  or 
14  leased  to  J.  Cist  &  Chas  Miner  &  Robinson  of  Wilkesbarre ; 
for  10  years  conditioned  for  their  taking  out  10,000  bu  a  yr, 
they  took  out  2  or  3  ark  load  part  of  which  they  got  to  Philad3. 
&  Myself  &  White  &  Hazard  for  the  factory  at  the  falls  in 
1816  bought  it  principally  at  75  cts  a  bu.  but  this  price  did  not 
pay  them  on  account  of  the  badness  of  the  navigation  &c  & 
they  abandoned  it  before  we  got  our  Lease.  They  paid  $4  a 
ton  for  hailing  it  from  the  mines  to  the  Landing,  at  Mauch 
Chunk,  &  the  Road  was  so  bad  the  Carter  faild  (by  our 
improvements  this  cost  is  reduced  to  20  ct  a  ton) 
Failure*  at  I  ought  to  have  mentioned  that  the  Lehigh  Coal  Mine  C°. 

Mines  &  River         had  ^^  tQ  ^  begt  Qf  thejr  means  to  open  &  WQrk  the  MinCS 

&  get  the  River  Improved  &  had  got  a  Lottery  on  which  its 
said  they  Raised  $10,000,  to  aid  in  improv*  the  River,  for 
which  there  had  been  5  Laws  obtained,  but  all  their  efforts 
fail'd  &  the  River  abandoned,  and  it  was  not  untill  the 

20 


Lehigh  Coal  Mine  C°.,  2  distinct  Individual  contracts  & 
Leases  had  failed  in  working  the  Mines  &  said  5  failures  in 
improoving  the  River  &  denouncing  it  as  impracticable  to 
improove,  that  We  came  forward  to  improove  it,  on  its  own 
mere  merits  without  $1000.  Capital  at  our  Command!!!  So 
that  all  old  claims  on  the  River  &  Coal  Mines  was  Cleared 
off  by  abandonments. 

We  soon  obtain'd  the  lease  as  mentioned  which  took  us  Our 

on  Lehigh 

say  2  or  3  weeks  to  perfect,  &  during  this  time  our  Erskine 
Hazard  wrote  up  the  Law  on  the  principles  mentioned,  &  then 
we  3  posted  to  Harrisb8  to  get  it,  in  which  we  Succeeded  on  the 
20  March  1818.  Jos  Gillingham  &  none  of  our  friends  (except* 
those  connected  with  us)  knew  what  we  was  about. 

On  the  4th  month  1818  Erskine  &  Myself  Leveled  the 
River  from  Stodartsvill  to  Easton.  the  Ice  had  not  all  dis- 
appeared. No  House  between  Lausane  &  Stoddertsvile  we 
lay  out  in  the  woods  6  nights.  We  borrowed  the  Levels  of 
Benjn  R.  Morgan,  who  had  Retained  them  as  the  Relics  of  the 
Union  Canal  C°.  We  knew  of  no  other  Level  in  Philad3  & 
if  there  had  been,  we  would  have  been  too  poor  to  buy  it. 

Previous  to  going  on  Lehigh  to  Level  it,  Erskine  &  self  Gave  Power  of 
gave  a  Power  of  Attorney  to  Isaac  Salkeld  our  foreman  at  Atty  to  J  Ssdkd 
the  Falls  to  attend  to  our  Whole  business  there,  so  as  to 
have  nothing  there  to  draw  off  our  whole  attention  from 
Lehigh.  Erskine  &  self  had  set  up  all  night  to  settle  our 
Business  for  the  Falls  of  Sch1,  &  then  went  down  to  the  Stage 
office  to  proceed  to  Stodartsvill  to  level  the  Lehigh  when  we 
found  the  Stage  had  gone  about  Half  hour,  which  detained  us 
another  week,  but  greatly  to  our  advantage,  as  the  weather 
got  milder  &  made  it  saffer  &  pleasanter  to  lodge  out  in  the 
woods  which  we  had  to  do  for  6  nights  while  leveling  the 
River. 

21 


Pir«t  Sucpttion  We  got  our  Mines,  our  Law  &  our  Survey  or  levels  of 

of   Hauto 

the  Lehigh  all  effected  before  we  knew  Hauto  had  deceived  us. 
The  facility  of  Hotos  imposing  on  us  was  increased  from  the 
necessity  of  keeping  our  business  quiet  untill  effected  &  we 
then  found  him  useless  in  Raising  money  &  in  fact  that  he 
increased  our  embarrassment  in  Raising  it,  for  those  who  knew 
him,  were  fearfull  of  trusting  us,  for  being  connected  with  him. 
We  bought  from  Doctr  Weston  widdow  the  Tract  up  M 
Chunk  Creek,  necessary  for  us  to  enable  us  to  make  as  we 
Supposed  an  unbroken  plain  from  the  Large  coal  bed  to  the 
River  of  2  feet  decend  to  100  feet  in  length,  but  on  bringing 
down  the  plain  we  discovered  that  the  Fall  in  M  Chunk  Creek 
was  too  great  for  2^  miles  of  the  lower  end.  J.W.  &  E.H. 
therfore  was  obliged  to  make  a  variation  in  the  plain  from 
a  foot  to  about  4*4  ft  in  the  100  ft.  The  Plain  of  the  Road 
is  about  as  follows  viz 

tf/2  miles  2  ft  to  100  ft 

%      "      1.6  in      " 
•»/       «      _  « 

74  I  - 

2^  2%    tO   ^/z      100   ft 


Yt  into  the  mine  on  a  decending  plane  of  6  in  to  2  feet 

J  W  &  E  H  found  the  Settlers  in  M  Chunk  Valley  Hos- 
pitable, being  2  Settlers  one  at  a  place  Since  called  Sodom  & 
the  other  Gomorrow,  at  the  first  place  J.  W.  &  E.  H.  were 
accomodated  with  the  Liberty  to  Sleep  on  their  blankets  on 
the  kitchen  floor  &  the  Good  Host  made  up  an  exellent  fire, — 
our  bread  perhaps  was  a  little  novelty  in  the  Valley.  Our 
Hosts  family  had  nigh  eat  it  all  up  by  morning.  However 
on  the  whole  we  had  a  good  nights  Rest  &  the  folks  were 
friendly  &  clever. 

22 


The  next  night  then  we  slept  at  Gomorrow,  in  the  Saw 
Mill  loft  here  there  was  a  shew  of  some  panes  or  parts  of 
pains  of  glass  in  the  window,  however  on  the  whole  the 
Room  was  well  ventilated. 

The  3rd  day,  brings  down  the  levels,  was  a  day  of  diffi- 
culty, as  we  then  discovered  that  the  bottom  of  Mauch  Chunk 
Valley  was  too  high,  to  continue  our  2  feet  plane  further,  after 
making  a  number  of  fruitless  efforts  to  suit  ourselves  we  gave 
it  up  for  a  few  days,  &  Return'd  again  &  finished  it  where  it 
is  now  made,  the  ground  was  so  covd  with  under  brush  &  so 
stoney  for  2^2  miles  of  the  lower  end  of  M  Chunk  that  we 
generally  allow'd  ourselves  half  a  day  to  go  it. 

Concluded  on  the  outlines  for  a  Lehigh  Navigation  &  6th  Month. 
Coal  C°.  the  substance  was,  a  Capital  of  50,000.  to  be  Sub- 
scribed by  individuals,  for  which  those  subscribers  were  to 
enjoy  all  that  was  made  up  to  25%  on  their  Capital  &  we  all 
the  Residue,  we  to  get  $1000  ea  for  conducting  all  the  business 
&  to  have  the  sole  management. 

after  the  outlines  of  the  C°.  was  agreed  we  Printed  a 
pamphlet  entitled  a  Compendius  Vew  of  the  Lehigh  &  the  Coal 
interest  &c  &  set  about  getting  Subscriptions.  In  this  we 
were  led  to  expect  no  difficulty  as  Hauto  had  agreed  to  get 
as  much  as  we  wanted  &c  &c,  we  found  however  he  did  not 
call  on  the  monied  characters  he  had  proposed  in  the  onset,  as 
he  avoided  conversation  about  those  characters  &  proposed 
his  going  to  New  York  J.  W.  &  E.  H.  applyd  to  some  of 
them  for  his  character  &  then  found  Suffitient  Reason  for 
his  not  calling  on  them,  as  they  new  him  better  than  we. 

It  must  be  Recollected  that  up  to  this  time  the  sucess  of 
our  enterprise  in  our  opinion  depended  on  privacy  &  expedi- 
tion, by  this  course  of  things  the  whole  business  was  thus  far 
Secured  before  we  got  to  know  our  man. 

23 


J  W  &  E  H  called  on  &  wrote  our  terms  to  most  of  our 
monied  men  in  Philad*.  among  them  was  Stephen  Girard  & 
Jacob  Ridgeway  &c  &c. 

We  went  up  to  Burdentown,  &  sought  an  interview  with 
Jos  Buonaparte.  We  Sent  him  a  letter  noting  the  outlines 
of  our  Vews,  &  asked  a  conference.  The  Count  through  his 
Secretary  gave  us  a  Respectfull  Reply  by  a  note,  but  declined 
joining  us. 

Sam1  Archer,  on  an  application  to  him  agreed  to  give  us 
a  hearing  on  the  subject  for  5  minutes  by  the  watch. 

Stephen  Girard  said  he  formed  no  partnerships. 

Wm  Abbett  admitted  our  Representations  to  be  plausable, 
after  taking  about  a  week  to  consider  of  it  sd  that  Jos  Gilling- 
ham  &  others  had  a  poor  opinion  of  it. 

Joshua  Longstreth,  appointed  an  evening  for  us  to  explain 
the  subject  to  him.  In  the  evening  we  calld  to  see  him  but  he 
was  gone  next  door  to  a  party  to  have  sone  fun  (magnanimus 
interest  thought  I  &  worthy  the  man). 

Sam1  Spackman,  appointed  5  or  6  P.  M.  to  call  on  him  at 
his  office.  We  attended  &  entered  into  our  explanations,  he 
was  call'd  off  by  a  visitor,  he  propos'd  call*  on  J  W  3  days 
after  but  he  never  calld. 

Samuel  Lippincott,  we  explained  our  project,  which  he 
Readily  understood  &  approved  of,  but  his  funds  were  locked 
up  so  that  he  could  not  change  them,  which  he  appeared  to 
Regret. 

Benjn  Stille,  was  polite  en°  to  allow  of  some  general 
Remarks,  but  said  he  was  unable  to  appretiate  them. 

John  Stille,  sd  politely,  how  do  do  Sirs,  how  do  you  come 
on  with  the  Lehigh,  &  before  we  could  give  him  an  answer, 
he  proceeded  to  Read  his  news  paper,  &  alltho  we  bid  him, 
good  afternoon,  he  was  so  mutch  engaged  at  Reading  the  chit, 

24 


chat,  occurrences  of  the  day,  that  he  had  no  time  to  bid  us  g  <*  o 
good  night.  «  §•  |! 

Jacob    Ridgway,    had    no    opinion    of    navigation    Stocks  in    „  % " 

n   *   2, 

this  country,  said  he  was  going  to  vew  his  Western  Lands  &c,    g  |  o 

*      ^    *i 

he  could  put  out  his  money  on  better  security  &c  upon  the  ,g  c  t? 

whole  we  conceived  he  treated  the  project  &  ourselves  with  °  g.  g. 

much  Contempt.  i  »  3 

John  Friese,  says  he  has  no  money  at  his  command.  s.  <  3 

of    C !   ^ 

Chas  Roberts,  admits  fully  the  theory  of  our  minutio,  but    $  «  g" 

&   < 

is   fully  convinced,   that  in  the   aggregate   Girrards   fortune  *-.  g  « 

would  not  be  addequate  &  strenuously  advises  us  to  sell  out  ".  y  s 

if  possible,  for  any  thing  we  can  get,  &  if  we  can  get  nothing,  3.  §.  0 

be  sure  to  give  up  the  whole  thing,  or  we  will  certainly  Ruin  g  f  31 

ourselves.  ?  2.  g5 

*»   S   of 

Reuben  Haines,  call'd  on  him  at  his  Home  &  found  with    J"  jf-  § 

n  -5° 

him  a  dozen  of  his  friends,  Philosiphers  Doctors  &c  he  said  I  ^  5' 
he  had  no  money,  he  had  Stocks  in  sutch  works  which  prooved  s  o  » 

sr  C   2- 

total  loss,  &  should  not  think  of  taking  any  of  ours,  he  excused  a  s  g. 
himself  on  ace1  of  his  friends,  &  forthwith  had  his  Cows  &  «  °  ^ 
Bulls  brought  up  to  shew  his  friends,  on  their  good  appearance  S  ".  *• 

<*   E"  2 

he  elogised  about  half  an  hour  (without  naming  a  single  good 
property  save  their  appearance,  &  that  they  came  from 
Abroad,  hence  verify^  the  character  of  children  "that  any  sf 3  3 

**     C     r* 

home  is  better  than  their  own",  from  thence  he  went  to  dig-  ?  "  g" 
ging  fish  worms,  evidence  here,  thinks  I,  of  the  Mind  of  a  <.  | 
Man  or  a  Boy.  c.  £• 

— —  •*  o    n 

Sam1  Mifflin,  says  that  Schuylkill  without  any  thing  sub-  ss  | 
scribed,  would  be  worth  more  than  Lehigh,  with  our  improve-  »  ^ 

"2.  a- 

ments  made,  that  after  we  get  to  the  Delaware  we  can  get  no 

further.  «!: 

3-  " 
Abm    Hiliard,    he  sd    our   calculation   looked    well    on   paper       $  ~ 

we  had  better   do  it  ourselves,  but  the   publick  where  like        I 

C 

sheep,  they  mooved  by  giving  them  time,  in  a  flock  together. 

25 


JW.  told  him  we  ment  merely  to  inform  our  friends  of  the 
subject,  that  we  were  not  asking  favours,  that  if  any  favour 
was  in  the  case,  we  conceived  we  we  were  yielding  it  to 
them  as  they  never  had  such  an  offering  before  &  not  likely 
would  again  &c  on  the  whole  I  considered  him  merely  sport- 
ing on  my  Remarks  &c  &c. 

John  Rogers,  Hoped  we  would  do  well,  he  would  allways 
be  glad  to  hear  of  our  prospering,  in  all  our  undertakings, 
he  did  not  pretend  to  know  anything  about  such  business,  he 
did  not  see  how  we  could  Raise  the  $50,000  &c  &c 

The  above  is  a  sample  of  the  manner  we  were  Recd  on 
explaining  our  Project,  &  asks  a  subscription  to  a  subject  that 
we  were  persuaded  the  day  would  come  that  would  verify 
our  allegations  &  the  imbicility  of  those  who  felt  wise  in 
opposing  them.  (The  paper  is  worn  off  here  and  the  last 
word  is  assumed. 

Nath"  Sellars  &  family  Subscrd  $10,000  to  the  Stock, 
finding  a  difficulty  in  getting  more  on  the  faith  of  our  declar- 
ations, we  proposed  that  N.  Sellars  &  his  friend  Sam1  Gibson 
should  explore  our  Property  which  was  agreed  to,  &  we  had 
every  Reason  to  believe  that  he  would  give  a  favourable 
Report  of  the  Good  Land  &  in  that  case  our  stock  would 
instantly  fill,  in  this  however  we  were  disappointed,  the 
Report  was  unfavourable ;  it  was  their  opinion  fr  their  Report 
the  Road  could  only  be  made  with  a  capital  like  Girards, 
the  River  was  a  more  feasable  property,  on  the  whole  they 
abandoned  the  concern.  We  accordingly  surrendered  their 
Subscription,  we  offered  to  chainge  our  compy  to  a  Navigation 
C°.  only,  &  to  make  several  very  imporant  alterations  in  the 
terms,  but  to  no  purpose,  (we  have  lernt  since,  they  had 
been  aprised  of  the  character  of  Hoto  which  was  their  Reason 
for  break*  off  from  us. 

26 


Hauto  done  nothing  in  New  York,  &  proposed  going  to  e  mo  7mo  & 

to      8mo    5-1818 

Baltimore,  (any  wheres  but  among  our  Ritch  Philada  where 
he   had   agreed   to    Raise   the   cash) 

endeavs  to  get  subscriptions  to  the  Lehigh  Naviga- 
tion C°.  &  finally  John  Stoddart,  who  was  then  a  leading 
man  among  the  Mound  characters,  being  esteemed  Luckey 
and  to  never  mis'd  in  his  Speculations,  carried  a  strong 
influence  with  his  actions,  he  being  of  an  open  and  accessable 
habit,  gave  us  frequent  oppertunites  with  him,  &  his  large 
Estates  at  the  head  of  our  Navigation  authorized  our  beseag- 
ing  him,  which  we  did  frequently. 

Jacob  Shoemaker  got  information  of  the  thing  &  he  hav*  8  mo 
formerly  an  intention  of  forming  a  C°.  for  a  similar  purpose  up 
Lehigh,  was  prepared  for  the  impulse  we  agreed  to  meet  at 
the  Life  insurance  Co.  office  on  the  subject,  when  for  20  shares 
of  stock  he  agreed  to  give  us  his  weight  &  influence  to  get 
our  Stock  subscribed,  this  was  in  the  morn'g  before  their 
office  hours,  when  J  Stoddart  arived,  between  the  information 
from  us  &  the  influence  of  J  Shoemaker,  he  agreed  to  take 
$5000  absolutely  &  about  $5000  more  on  conditions  of  our 
Releivs  him  from  the  latter  if  he  Required  it.  Condy  Regued 
took  also  about  same'  am1.  &  also  Jas  S  Spencer.  The  Bal 
of  the  Stock  was  then  fill'd  in  about  24  hours,  &  our  Rever- 
tionary  interest  valued  at  100,000  Doll8  by  the  Stockholders, 
who  pres'd  us  to  make  a  Stock  of  it  at  that  valuation.  isis 

Bought  a  Horse  for  $100  &  a  small  Dearbourn  waggon  a 
for  $65,  in  which  we  Rode  up  to  Laussain,  but  being  Rather 
light  it  broke  down  twice  before  we  arived,  this  was  how- 
ever the  only  light  carriage  we  or  the  C°.  had  untill  the  summer 
of  1822,  when  it  was  so  farr  Reduced  by  good  service,  that  we 
sold  it  for  the  sum  of  $5. 

J  W  arived  at  Laussain,  &  boarded  at  the  Tavern  kept  by  8  mo 
Abm  Clutz      Wm  Zain  had  been  up  about  i  mo  before,  getting 
out  boat  stuff  &c 

a? 


8  mo  Began  our  Work  in   the  River   with    13   hands   at   the 

mouth  of  Nesquehoning  Creek,  this  Creek  being  the  dividing 
point  between  the  2  Grand  sections,  viz. 

9  mo  Had  Riged  2  scows  30  to  35  feet  long  by  about  14  ft  wide  for 

Lodging  &  Eating  Room  of  our  hands  about  70 

in  number 
i    scow   about    30    ft    long    14   wide   for    Managers 

Countshouse  Store  House  &  their  dwelling, 
i  D  "  25  ft  long  for  Kitchen  &  Bake  House 

These  4  scows  or  boats  were  Rais'd  i  story  say  6  ft  &  a  covd 
with  board  Roofs. 

In  those  boats  we  plased  all  our  Hands,  Stores  Tools  & 
Equipage  &  call'd  the  fleet  Whitestown  on  Lehigh,  (except'g 
2  or  4  horses  in  the  service  for  hailing  wood  &c  for  the  Oven 
&  Kitchen)  and  as  it  was  our  desighn  to  make  the  River 
navigable  with  small  wing  dams  &  channel  walls,  a  Single 
Rift  would  not  keep  100  hands  perhaps  more  than  i  to  6  days, 
so  that  as  we  finished  the  work  at  one  place  we  mooved  down 
with  our  Floating  Town  to  the  vicinity  of  the  next  Job  &c.  we 
continued  all  Hands  of  us  living  in  our  floating  Town  untill 
we  were  Froze  up  in  the  Ice.  Our  Hands  wasted  our  pro- 
visions, which  subjected  them  to  a  general  Reprimand,  when 
those  who  were  uncontious  of  being  guilty  asked  our  consent 
to  making  a  cob  Law  to  aid  us  in  checking  that  &  numerous 
other  impositions,  among  these  Ordinances  where  the  foils 

"Any  Hand  that  took  more  Victuals  on  his  plate  than  he 
coul  Eat,  was  t  be  cobed,  he  was  also  to  be  cobed  for 
Running  or  going  any  way  uncivel  to  his  meals. 

For  any  hand  going  into  the  Kitch  without  due 
liberty,  &  centinal  was  placed  at  the  door  as  a  guard 
to  the  cook  &c  &c. 

28 


While  we  boarded  at  Laussane,  the  Hands  on  First  day 
(being  a  day  of  leisure)  as  usual  must  needs  kill  time  with 
sport,  as  usual,  a  number  of  them  got  drunk  &  then  quarrel'd, 
drove  the  Landlord  out  of  his  House  broke  his  Windows  &c 
&c  Hauto  untill  then  allways  when  he  Rode  out  on  Hors- 
back  had  a  pr  of  hosslers  &  Pistols  on  the  saddle  &  shew'd  a 
very  Milatary  defence,  but  on  this  occation  was  wise  en°  to 
keep  those  weapins  out  of  sight. 

The  improvements  Runs  through  a  Wilderness  country 
the  Hands  came  from  all  nations  &  Strangers  to  us.  We  con- 
cluded it  most  prudent  to  go  Clad,  in  similar  Garbs  with  our 
Hands.  Each  of  us  got  a  complete  suit  of  Buckskin  Cloths 
(Roundabout,  vest  coat,  &  Trou  &  having  no  fixt  (being  a 
moveable  town)  Habitation  kept  on  hand  but  little  cash  & 
to  our  hands  we  agreed  on  taking  them  to  pay  allways  in. 
checks,  which  we  directed  the  Banks  not  to  pay  unless  Sign'd 
by  at  least  two  of  us,  (either  two)  so  that  if  any  of  our  wild 
hands  caught  either  of  us  alone  in  the  Wilds  he  had  no  induce- 
ment to  waylay  us,  for  money  we  were  known  to  have  none  & 
Checks  Required  the  Signature  of  two  of  the  Managers. 

The  Managers  never  met  with  any  molestation  from  the 
Hands,  but  when  they  were  out  in  the  country  where  they 
was  unknown  in  their  usual  attire,  they  were  vew'd  Sometimes 
as  Suspitious  persons. 

1810 

JW.  &  G  F  A  H.  Set  off  from  the  floating  town  in  a      10  mo 
small   boat,   for  the    City   to   form  a    Coal    Company.     We 
examined  the  River  Lehigh  &  Delaware  to  tide. 

At  Yardlyville  we  arived  in  our  Box  Boat  perhaps  6  ft 
wide  &  10  or  12  ft  long  i  foot  deep,  we  took  our  valices  to» 
the  Tavern.  Hautos  was  old  but  a  very  shewy  looks  One,  & 
he  carried  in  his  hand  a  New  Portfolio,  (Red  Morocca  Cover), 
which  look'd  too  fine  to  belong  to  such  appearences  in  Dress 
as  we  made  &  perhaps  not  shaved  for  3  or  4  days,  our  looks 

29 


in  our  Regular  dress  now  was  any  thing  but  like  that  of  Gen- 
tlemen, we  had  business  2  miles  in  the  country  &  left  our  Box 
boat  tyed  at  the  shore  &  our  Valices  &c  in  the  bar  &  set  off 
this  2  miles.  On  our  Return,  our  boat  was  taken  to  Jersey  to 
detain  us  &  they  examined  Hotos  Valice  expecting  to  detect  in 
it  some  Robery,  but  findg  nothing,  &  we  scolding  them,  for 
their  impudence,  we  got  off  but  not  without  strong  suspitions 
we  were  Robbers. 

I  then  &  since  did  not  censure  those  people  for  Sus- 
pecting us,  because  of  Hotos  making  a  display  of  his  finery, 
while  he  affected  to  be  so  perfectly  independent  &  care- 
less. Our  dress  was  our  usual  M  Chunk  dress,  Cap,  Saylors 
Roundabout,  vest  &  pants,  &  Redflanel  shirt,  all  of  course 
material,  a  dress  that  so  effectualy  disguised  us,  that  we 
seldom  if  ever  was  Recognized  by  our  friends  in  Philad3. 
unless  we  made  ourselves  known,  so  that  I  came  home  to  the 
City  &  Returned  incog. 

Henry,  Josiah  White,  Geo  Frederick  Augustus  Hauto 
Erskine  Hazard  Brink,  was  the  first  male  born  at  Mauch 
Chunk. 

The  first  shew  of  fine  arts  in  Sundry  paintings  was 
exposed  to  Vew,  for  12  c  ea  in  our  Wheelwright  shop  at  M 
Chunk  in  ii  mo  1823. 

The  first  Preaching  at  a  Public  Meeting  at  Mauch  Chunk 
was  by  Henry  Clark  a  Baptist  Minister  in  the  Wheelwright 
Shop  at  M  Chunk  3  mo  12,  1823. 

Our  first  proposual  was  for  a  "Lehigh  Navigation  &  Coal 
Mine  C°."  " 

Capital  Stock  200,000  divided  in  200  shares. 

White  Hauto  &  Hazard  each  Reserve  50  shares  for  which 
they  assighn  to  the  C°.  all  their  interest  in  in  the  Law  &  Lease 
of  the  Coal  lands. 

30 


The  50  shares  Remaining  shall  be  invested  in  the  Navi- 
gation &  Coal  Mines  &  business  connected  therewith. 

White  H  &  H.  pledge  their  150  shares  to  the  C°.  for  the  Our  First  Propo8al 
whole  nett  profits  of  the  C°.  be  exclusively  appropriated  to 
them  untill  they  Receve  18  p  C*  pr  annum  on  the  amount  of 
their  subscription. 

When  the  nett  profits  exceed  $9,000  or  18  p  Ct  the  surplus 
to  be  divided  equally  on  the  shares  of  White  H  &  H  untill 
they  Receive  18  p  C*  interest  p*  anm. 

And  when  the  profits  exceed  $36,000  pr  anm  the  profits  to 
be  divided  equally  on  all  the  shares. 

White  H  &  H  to  manage  &  personally  superintend  the 
business  untill  the  navign  is  completed  &  the  Coal  business 
Reduced  to  a  system  for  which  each  of  them  to  Receive  $1000 
pr  an™ — The  C°  may  associate  a  person  with  W  H  &  H.  at 
$1000  compensation,  a  Majority  of  the  Managers  govern  the 
affairs  of  the  6>. 

Should  $50,000  be  insuffitient,  additional  shares  shall  be 
created,  subject  to  the  same  Regulations  as  the  50  shares  now 
subscribed  for. 

W  H  &  H  &  the  subscribers  shall  be  at  liberty  to  Sub- 
scribe the  additional  stock  in  the  proportion  to  the  original 
shares  they  may  hold. 

If  any  of  the  subscribers  decline  advancing  their  propor- 
tion to  the  New  Stock,  White  H  &  H  engage  to  make  up  the 
defitiency. 

Each  share  entitled  to  one  vote. 

Dividents  of  the  nett  profits  (Reserving  a  contingent  fund 
to  meet  contingenes  of  the  C°)  shall  be  made  Semiannually. 

On  the  above  terms  David  Sellars  &  family  Subscribed 
$10,000  &  a  few  other  Subscriptions  was  made,  but  to  Satisfy 
all  parties  &  to  ensure  the  Stock  filling  up,  It  was  proposed 
that  David  Sellars  &  Samuel  Gibson,  should  go  up  Lehigh  & 

31 


D.    Sellars   ft   Gibson 
unfavorable   Report 


Effect 
of  Report 


First   proposals   for 
a   Navign  Co.   only 


to  the  Coal  Mines  to  examine  the  whole  &  Report,  their  Vews 
of  the  whole  affair,  &  in  yth  month  1818,  they  according 
Visited  the  property  &  made  a  boat  &  floated  down  the 
Lehigh  &  I  believe  the  Delaware  River  also,  so  as  to  enable 
them  to  make  a  thorough  Report. 

They  Reported  the  Coal  Mines  inexhaustible  but  that  the 
country  was  so  Ruff  between  the  River  and  the  Mines,  that 
they  found  it  an  easement  to  Run  over  Stumps  to  avoid 
Stones ! 

That  their  Estimate  of  cost  of  improoving  the  River 
was  within  our  Estimate. 

This  Report  so  completely  alarmed  the  first  subscribers, 
that  we  gave  up  their  Subscription,  &  Nathn  Sellars  Recom- 
mended that  we  seperate  the  Navigation  from  the  Coal  & 
make  2  Seperate  Cos.  which  alltho  contrary  to  our  notions  of 
Right  we  Submitted  to,  for  the  sake  of  starting  the  work 
under  his  Recommendation,  for  he  felt  a  freedom  to  Recom- 
mend the  Navign  on  our  plan. 

We  accordingly  issued  proposuals  for  our  Navigation, 
(without  the  Mines)  viz 

Capital  Stock  1000  Shares  of  50$  each 

J  White  Hauto  &  Hazard  assighn  to  in  trust 

for  the  C°.  all  the  benefits  derived  from  the  Navig"  of  the 
River  Lehigh  granted  to  them  their  heirs  &  assigns  viz  the 
whole  profits  derived  from  the  navigation  in  each  year,  shall 
belong  to  the  Stockholders  unless  they  exceed  25  p  C*  &  when- 
ever the  profits  exceeds  25  p  C*  in  any  one  year,  the  excess 
above  25  p  C1  shall  belong  in  equal  proportions  to  J  White 
Hoto  &  Hazard  their  heirs  &  assigns. 

The  Legal  tolls  composing  the  Revenue  of  the  Navign 
shall  never  be  Reduced  without  the  express  approbation  in 
writing  of  the  sd  J  White  H  &  H  their  heirs  &  assigns. 

33 


J  White  Hoto  &  H,  or  the  Survivors  of  them  shall  manage 
and  direct  the  business,  untill  the  Navign  be  completed,  for 
which  they  each  shall  Receive  $1000  an^,  the  C°.  may  if  they 
deem  necessary  appoint  one  to  the  3  Managers  to  be  asso- 
ciated with  W  H  &  H  who  shall  have  the  same  authority  & 
devote  the  same  attention  &  have  the  same  salary  as  the  other 
Managers. 

A  majority  of  the  Managers  shall  govern  the  affairs  of 
the  C°.  after  the  Navign  is  completed,  be  business  to  be  con- 
ducted by  Six  Managers,  the  C°.  to  appoint  3  &  W.  H.  &  H. 
each  appoint  one. 

At  Meetings  of  the  Stockholders  each  share  shall  be 
entitled  to  one  vote,  &  the  Interests  of  W  H  &  H  their  Heirs 
&  assigns  may  be  Represented  by  a  number  of  votes  for  each 
of  them,  equal  to  i/3rd  the  votes  of  the  Stockholders. 

This  stock  was  taken  in  about  2  weeks,  mainly  under  the  Navign 
Influence  of  David  Sellars,  Condy  Raguet,  John  Stoddard  &  Stock  taken 
Jacob  Shoemaker,  &  on  or  about  the  18  of  the  8  month  1818 
we  arived  at  Lausane  &  commenced  opperations.    We  bought 
a  Horse  &  Dearbourn  for  $140  or  160,  in  which  we  went  up. 

We  laid  in  stock  of  Camp  furniture  for  perhaps  200  or 
300  Hands,  Composed  of  Sheet  Iron  Camp  Kettles,  Tin  Cups, 
pewter  dishes,  Iron  tinnd  spoons,  &  knives  &  forks,  as  the 
Roads  were  bad,  that  all  would  be  light  &  nothinf  break  & 
cost  little. 

We  made  scow  boats  &  covered  them  in  for  our  lodging 
&  boarding,  to  pass  down  the  River  from  Laussane,  as  we 
made  pur  wings  &  channels,  so  that  we  allways  had  our 
Home,  at  our  work. 


33 


At  this  time  there  was  occupied  at  Laussane 
Between  Laussane  &  Lehighton  6  miles  (none  at 

M  Chunk)  Fogleman  &  Soults, 
Lehighton  perhaps 
Weissport — Weisses 
At  Big  Creek  mouth 

Jn°  D  Bowman  Henry  B  &  Kelkners  to  Gap 
At  Gap 


Hous 
2 

2 
4 

2 

2 

3 

2 
'7 


of  these  there  was  3  stone,  6  Frame  8  Log  Houses  &  distance 
13  miles. 

discover  a  Rout  We  proceeded  on  with  the  Channels  to  about  the    10 

Creek  for  a  Road  Month  &  got  down  as  low  as  Mauch  Chunk  &  a  number  of 
our  freinds  had  been  to  see  us,  &  the  attention  &  economy 
of  our  progress  in  the  channels  &  we  had  examined  the  line  for 
a  Road  down  Mauch  Chunk  Creek, — which  was  so  covered 
with  naked  stone  &c  that  no  path  was  made  along  the  Creek 
&  we  had  not  lernt  it  was  passable  before  we  examined  it  our- 
selves, &  then  was  able  to  shew  its  advantages  in  a  verry 
unexpected  manner,  for  previously  the  difficulty  was  con- 
sidered verry  great  to  get  a  good  Road  to  M.  Chunk. 

W.  H.  &  H.  bought  the  M  Chunk  track  on  which,  we 
could  make  this  Road,  &  2  or  3  Coal  Tracks  which  lay  in  & 
adjoining  the  C°.  Coal  tracts  &  all  the  land,  not  on  sd  tracts 
for  2  miles  on  each  side  of  Lehigh  adjoin*  M  Chunk,  to  ensure 
us  the  entire  monopoly,  &  not  to  be  interfered  with  after  we 
had  opened  the  country. 

In  the  ioth.  Month  J  White  &  Hauto  went  to  Philadel- 
phia to  form  the  Coal  C°.  so  as  to  have  the  whole  affair 
posted  up. 


buy  interfer- 
ing track 


Go  to 

Phila 
to  form 
Coal  Co 


34 


Our  friends  were  greedy  to  take  the  Stock  in  the  Coal  C°.   Coal  Co. 

easy 

&  we  gave  20  pr  C*  to  the  Stockholders  in  place  of  25  pr  C*  as  formed 
in  the  Navign  &  in  other  Respects  essentially  the  same. 

We  made  a  Stock  of  $100,000  &  a  Subscription  of  $55,000 
as  soon  as  our  Conditions  were  written  out.  We  Intending 
to  Join  the  2  Cos.  the  first  good  opportunity. 

We  proceeded  to  make  our  Turnpike  of  Sy2  miles  as  pro-  begin 

our    graded 

posed,  with  a  constant  decent  of  75  ft  to  too  ft  to  the  mile  to  Road 
within  4  miles  of  M  C.  &  then  50  to  75  ft  a  mile  untill  the  level 
struck  Mauch  Chunk  Creek  &  then  down  the  bottom  of  the 
valley,  about  100  or  150  ft  a  mile  to  the  landing  at  Mauch 
Chunk.  No  doubt  this  was  the  first  uninterrupted  decending 
grade  of  8  miles  in  America  if  not  in  world,  embracing  the 
principle  of  never  Rising. 

In  the  Managers  ist  Report  dated  Mauch  Chunk  12  mo  lst  R«p°rt  °{ 

Managers 

31.  1818,  they  state  that  from  the  19  Aug*  to  19  Nov  they 
estimate  they  laid  in  the  River  13,000  ft  in  length  of  Wall  & 
containing  upwards  of  16,000  ft  of  Stone,  overcoming  the 
worst  of  the  navigation  in  the  lower  Section  &  made  it  navi- 
gable in  all  seasons  of  common  low  water,  &  they  expect  to 
have  it  so  far  finished  next  season  as  to  begin  to  collect  tolls. 
&  from  the  progress  made  by  the  Coal  C°.  a  large  business 
may  be  expected  in  the  River,  as  soon  as  the  lower  Section  is 
finished. 

That  of  the  15,000  Doll8  Recd  they  have  expended  viz 
for  wages,  3,8 12.54 

For      accomodations,      tools,      provisions, 

Lumber  &c,  7,755-26 

Salaries  of  Managers,  1,500. — 

Cash  on  hand,  1,932.20 


$15,000.00 

In  1819,  was  a  year  of  great  perplexity  but  finally  Crowned 
with  Success. 

35 


Discover 
we  have 
not  water 
eno. 


Discover 
the  plan 
of  Bear  Trap 
Lock 


Our  Camp 
boats  gone 


New 
plan  of 
encampg 


We  early  this  season  discovered  that  the  natural  flow 
of  water  in  Lehigh,  was  insufficient  to  give  us  1 8  in  depth  of 
water  &  20  ft  in  width  as  Required  by  Law.  by  the  water  sub- 
siding much  below  the  mark  we  had  made,  on  the  best  inform- 
ation we  were  able  to  procure  from  those  on  the  River  who 
professed  to  know  all  about  it.  &  we  had  but  one  great  experi- 
ment to  make  to  give  us  water,  by  artificial  freshets,  &  if  we 
fail'd  in  this  our  whole  work  must  be  exploded  &  abandoned. 

I  devoted  myself  for  several  weeks,  especially  to  form  a 
plan  of  a  Sluice  that  would  answer  us,  to  be  cheap  made,  &  be 
safe  in  all  stages  of  the  water,  &  in  which  I  providentally 
Succeeded  in  producing  the  Lock  or  Sluice,  called  the  "Bear 
Trap",  a  name  the  Workman  gave  it,  while  we  were  experi- 
menting with  it,  on  M  Chunk  Creek  above  the  head  of  lower 
Broadway,  to  elude  the  enquiry  of  persons,  who  teased  them 
with  wanting  to  know  what  we  were  making  &c.  &c. 

We  put  up  about  12  of  these  Locks  &  Dams  this  year,  & 
completely  prooved  them,  so  as  to  determine  they  would 
answer  our  purpose.  I  took  out  a  Patent  for  this  Lock  12  mo 
1819. 

Our  boats  we  used  last  summer  &  fall  for  ourselves  & 
hands  &  whole  camp,  with  mooved  down  as  our  work  pro- 
gressed having  gone  off  with  the  Winters  Ice  &  freshets,  we 
changed  our  plan  by  procuring  ^  in  boards  15  or  16  ft  long 
which  we  battened  together  &  broke  joints,  Making  a  Battow 
about  6  ft  wide  by  their  length,  of  these  we  put  as  many 
together  of  Tent  form  as  would  accommodate  40  to  60  hands, 
being  the  number  we  alotted  to  erect  a  Bear  trap  lock  &  Dam 
in  40  to  60  days,  &  when  the  Job  was  done  they,  the  hands  took 
them  down,  (4  men  to  a  battow)  &  made  a  Raft  of  them  to 
carry  down  their  camp  equipage,  in  this  way,  we  could 
Reerect  accomodations  for  a  comp?  of  hands  of  40  to  60  in 
about  one  hour,  handy  to  their  work  on  the  River  Shore  as 

36 


well  as  save  a  Team  to  cart  the  furniture  &c.  Our  improve- 
ments this  year  extended  to  the  Lehigh  Gap.  As  we  lived 
with  the  Hands  200  or  300,  nearly  all  of  whom  were  entire 
strangers  to  us,  we  adopted  the  plan  of  Dress,  most  befitting 
our  Hands,  viz  Red  flannel  shirts,  Round  about  over  coats  & 
Caps  &  strong  shoes  with  holes  cut  in  the  toe  to  let  out  the 
water,  as  our  work  was  generally  in  the  water  7  to  8  months 
in  the  year,  &  my  portion  of  it  to  lay  out  the  Walls  &  Chan- 
nels in  the  River  by  piles  of  Stone  as  marks  &c.  The  first 
2  or  3  years  we  had  no  fether  Bed  or  matras  on  our  Work, 
the  Managers  as  well  as  all  Hand  slept  in  Bunks,  of  unplained 
pine  Boards,  &  Blankets,  some  had  Straw  &  others  the  plain 
board,  to  sleep  on.  I  left  my  Gold  watch  chain  at  home  &  care  to  avoid 
substituted  it  with  a  leather  shoe  string  And  to  prevent  or  per 
discourage  attacks  on  us  for  money,  we  paid  our  hands  in 
i-  2-  3  &  5  Dollar  printed  checks  on  Allentown  Bank  mainly 
that  being  the  nearest  to  our  work.  &  these  checks  was 
sighned  by  2  of  us  to  prevent  their  one  of  us  by  himself  & 
coercing  us  to  sighn  checks.  So  that  our  Clothing  of  coarse 
Cloth  or  Buckskin  tanned  in  oil  to  allow  our  going  in  the 
water  and  dry  on  us  &c.  presented  no  object  for  attack,  & 
nothing  valuable  was  seen  about  us  &  we  professed  to  carry 
no  money  about  us  &  we  never  was  personally  molested. 

I  was  in  the  water  in  Summer  perhaps  as  much  as  out  of  Exposure  in 
it  for  about  3  seasons  &  my  cloths  dried  on  my  back,  except 
they  were  wet  in  the  evens  &  then  I  put  dry  cloths  on.  After 
going  in  the  water  I  kep  up  my  circulation  by  walking  about 
my  business  &c  &c  &  never  took  cold  but  once  &  then  after 
wading  across  Lehigh  &  Returning  on  a  very  warm  day,  I 
was  tired  set  down  in  the  cool  shade  to  Rest  &  this  gave  me  a 
severe  cold  which  settled  in  my  face  which  nearly  overcome 
me,  &  was  laid  up  several  weeks. 

37 


$50000 
eno  on 
original  plan 


Water  failing 


1819 


Buy   Lumber- 
Land   &c 


Why  Have  eno 
Lumber 


We  believe  from  our  Experience  that  the  $50,000  sub- 
scribed for  the  Navigation  would  have  been  suffitient  to  have 
made  a  Channel  Navigation  as  at  first  intended,  &  which  we 
should  have  adhered  to.  If  our  water  had  been  Suffitient 
without  artifitial  freshets,  as  we  were  tought  to  believe  it 
was  ample  by  the  most  informed  persons  we  met  on  the 
Lehigh. 

But  the  water  failing  we  were  Required  to  Resort  to 
Dams  &c  for  artifitial  freshets,  &  to  make  a  more  perfect 
job  in  a  future  year  for  our  Coal  we  made  a  Dam  at  the 
Slates  &  37  miles  below  M  Chunk  which  alone  cost  about 
$40,000. 

This  year  1819  we  fully  prooved  by  our  Artifitial  Navign 
the  ability  to  make  a  Regular  Navigation,  by  which  we  could 
send  coal  en°  to  market  &  send  it  Regular  to  proove  wether 
the  market  would  take  such  a  quantity  as  would  justify  a 
better  than  a  mere  descending  navigation  by  Slack  water 
Canals,  Locks  &c.  or  wether  we  so  limited  in  Sales  as  to  con- 
fine us  allways  to  the  present  Decending  navigation,  &  to 
meet  this  Contingincy  we  bought  on  a  Credit  of  several  years 
(for  we  had  no  money  to  spare  excepting  what  we  could  spare 
out  of  our  saleries  of  $2,000  a  yr  to  each  for  Managing  both 
Coal  &  Navigation  C08.) 

Our  plan  was  &  which  we  effected,  was  to  buy  en° 
Lumber  land  (say  about  acres)  to  answer  our  purpose 

forever,  for  a  decending  navigation,  if  the  market  would  not 
take  much  Coal,  &  all  was  yet  to  be  tryed,  &  if  the  market 
took  a  large  quantity  of  coal,  as  we  hoped  it  would  &  that. 
it  would  increase  gradually,  alltho  this  might  take  all  our 
Lumber  in  time,  it  would  last  untill  we  could  made  the 
accending  navign  &  then  we  should  not  Require  it,  or  much 
of  it.  So  that  wether  we  Succeedd  or  not  in  sell*  coal  largely, 
we  thus  provided  an  full  supply  of  Lumber-  for  a  failure 

38 


in  the  supply  of  Lumber,  would  have  been  as  fatal  to  us,  as  a 
failure  in  the  Coal  mines. 

In  the  purchase  of  these  Lands  however,  I  Run  the  prin-  My 
cipal  Risque,  for  my  partners  Had  no  means,  one  E.H.  lost 
all  the  Estate  his  Father  gave  him  at  the  falls,  &  Hauto  Hoto  an 

,    imposter 

prooved  an  imposter  &  never  had  anything,  that  we  heard  of 

(to  Rely  on).     My  Property  was  at  the  Falls  of  Schuylkill, 

which  might  or  might  not  sell.     The  City  I  knew  needed  it 

to  Raise  water  to  Fair  Mount,  to  supply  it  with  Schuylkill 

water  in  the  place  of  their  Expensive  Steam  Engines,  &  they 

had  Refused  to  buy  of  us  &  the  Navigation  C°.  had  Refused 

to  let  us  moove  our  Dam  to  supply  the  City  with  water.     I 

could  do  no  more  than  to  Inform  the  Public,  of  the  great  inform  the  Public  of 

value  &  savings  of  this  Water  Power  of  mine  &  J.  Gilm  at  b^wauf  Power* 


the  falls  of  Schuylkill,  &  the  Great  loss  they  sustained  by  not 
procuring  it,  &  let  the  Public  Rest  under  the  burthen  of  their 
Condition. 

I  wrote  a  number  of  pieces  &  answered  them  on  this 
subject.  I  gave  a  History  of  the  Cost  to  the  City  allReady 
of  supply^  them  with  water  making  it  amount  to  up  to  8  mo 
1818  $1,388,665  which  the  Aurora  published  &  Poulson 
Refused. 

&  one  time  coming  to  the  City  to  see  my  family  there  fell 
a  shower  (in  a  dry  time)  of  about  one  inch  in  depth,  which 
was  verry  Refreshing  to  the  Citizens,  I  took  advantage  of  it 
&  Published  the  next  day  that  the  City  by  Resorting  to  the 
Water  Power  at  the  Falls  could  make  an  Artifitial  Shower  all  ten  them 
over  the  City  Streets,  every  day,  if  the  Choose  by  Resorting  ar°t 
to  this  cheap  &  abundant  power  &c  &c. 

And  by  Deed  of  7  April  1819  the  Councils  of  the  City 
bought  my  &  J.  G.  property  at  the  Falls,  for  $150,000,  of  Seu  Falu 
which  g/i6th  was  mine  &  7/16  J  Gillinghams,  &  with  this  to  Phila 
I  was  able  to  pay  off  all  my  Debts  &  en°  left  to  make  me 

39 


Saved 
myself 

in  tale 


Reflection! 


Success 
of  our 
Plans 


whole,  together  with  a  moderate  salary  for  the  7  years  labour 
there.  &  J  Gillingham  also  saved  himself  &  a  few  thousand 
Dollars  profit. 

Had  I  Realized  this  sale  of  the  Falls  of  Schuylkill  before 
I  had  made  my  engagements  up  the  Lehigh  I  have  no  doubt, 
nothing  however  promising  there  could  have  induced  me  to 
begin  &  prossicute  that  Work.  I  would  then  as  I  did  when 
I  quit  the  Hardware  business  in  1808,  felt  that  I  had  en°  of 
this  Worlds  goods,  &  would  have  felt  it  my  place  to  have 
enjoyd  it  free  from  all  necessarily  Personal  labour  in  the  most 
discreet  manner  under  a  kind  Providence  that  he  would  allow 
me  to  do.  I  then  was  blessed  with  a  beloved  Wife  &  Children 
&  should  now  have  felt  having  escaped  a  Sea  of  trouble,  by 
getting  through  with  my  scrape  at  the  Falls,  &  that  I  had 
exposed  myself  en°,  to  now  enjoy  life  with  thankfulness  with 
my  family,  in  the  most  Rational  way  Kind  Providence  would 
permit  me,  &  permit  us  to  do.  But  Providence  ordered  it 
otherwise,  as  I  was  completely  engrafted  in  the  great  & 
extensive  engagements  on  the  Lehigh  long  say  about  a  year 
before,  I  sold  at  the  Falls,  &  Here  the  Plans  &  Most  of  their 
practical  carrying  out  was  Mine,  as  well  as  all  the  monied 
Responsibility,  which  was  considerable  in  the  purchase  of 
lands  &c.  exceeding  $23,000.  The  Scribbing  &c  Erskine  &  the 
perverse  &  Hiprocrital  impositions  was  Hautos,  instead  of 
the  Capital  he  was  to  Raise.  Hence  it  would  be  Ruenous  to 
my  engagements  here  as  well  as  injurious  to  the  interest  of 
those  who  had  Confided  in  us  by  their  subscription.  So  as  to 
have  made  it  dishonorable  in  me  to  leave  the  concern,  untill 
it  was  completed  agreeable  to  expectations,  or  as  near  as 
we  were  able  to  make  them. 

Late  in  the  Fall  of  this  year  1819  we  had  the  Satisfaction 
to  practically  proove  our  System  of  Artifitial  freshets  would 
completely  answer.  But  here  again  we  had  to  encounter 

40 


another  Dilemma  as  by  the  close  of  this  year,  we  had  disbursed 
the  whole  of  our  Capital  Stock  of  $105,000,  &  a  number  of  our  Through 
Dams  were  not  covered  in  &  the  Locks  not  Sufficiently  pro-  capital 
tected  against  the  Ice  freshets  of  Winter  for  want  of  Hands 
en°,  and  as  ours  was  the  first  effort  in  Pennsa  to  employ  so 
great  a  number  of  Hands  in  a  Wilderness,  it  was  impossible 
to  tell  how  we  could  succeed  in  getting  hands,  untill  we  made 
the  tryal,  &  to  not  put  up  en°  of  our  work  to  proove  its  prin- 
ciple this  fall  would  have  been  fatal  against  getting  any  more 
capital  to  finish  it,  to  do  this  we  had  to  spread  our  work  over 
a  sufficient  line  for  the  experiment  &  Risque,  the  early  part 
of  winter  being  mild  en°  to  perfectly  enclose  or  cover  the 
work,  against  Ice  freshets. 

Notwithstanding  we  had  spent  all  our  Capital,  It  would 
have  been  Ruenous,  to  have  broken  up  &  disbanded  all  our 
Hands  &  this  would  have  confirmed  the  Public  in  what  they 
had  predicted  of  another  failure  in  us!!  We  therefore  kept 
as  few  Hands  through  the  winter  of  1819-20  as  we  could  well  . 

I  supply  Hands 

do  with  &  I  supplied  the  necessary  funds,  through  winter  &  during  winter 
untill  we  got  another  subscription,  &  the  public  knew  nothing 
of  our  pecuniary  difficulties. 

The  work  being  tried  &  fully  answering  our  expectations,      1820 
as  the  cap  stone  to  giving  us  an  ample  Supply  of  water,  with- 
out which  our  work  would  have  been  a  total  failure,  elevated 
Hauto  so  much  that  He  concluded  on  a  visit  to  Harrisburg, 

0      rioto    goes 

to  evince  to  our  Ledgeslature,  how  well  they  had  hit  it,  in  to  Hamsbg 
giving  71  miles  of  the  River  Lehigh  &  a  fall  of  our  1200  feet 
in  fee  simple  to  him  &  his  companions  for  improovement  in 
which  there  had  been  so  many  futile  attempts  before  us. 

He  equiped  himself  in  our  Regular  Court  suit,  viz  a  com- 
plete suit  of  Leather  (Buckskin,  tann'd  in  oil)  say  Round 
about,  vest,  &  pataloons:  Red  flannel  shirt  a  large  Fox  skin 
Cap,  with  the  foxtail  sticking  out  behind,  &  with  much  per- 


swartion  he  gave  out  taking  a  large  pair  of  Fishermans  Boots, 
thus  equip'd  (on  a  Good  Horse)  he  vow'd  himself  the  leader 
of  the  3  great  "Lehigh  putzers"  &  as  he  had  made  the  mem- 
bers when  we  got  the  Law  2  winters  before  believe  that  He 
was  worth  $500,000  in  his  German  Estate,  he  now  was  carry* 
out  the  proof  of  it,  by  the  Successfull  prossecution  of  our  great 
work.  His  strange  appearance  brought  out  the  children  in 
crowds  after  him  as  he  passed  some  of  the  towns  calling 
him  the  "Bellsnakle"  to  get  clear  of  these  &  still  more  excite 
their  wonder  He  Rode  up  to  a  Cake  house  &  bough  out  the 
whole  stock  of  cakes  &  came  out  &  Sew'd  them  as  the  farmer 
sews  grain  among  the  children  When  they  all  exclaimed  it 
was  the  "Good  Bellsnakle."  This  was  Hotos  tack  &  glory 
perfectly  &  he  could  shew  himself  out  to  the  Dutch  Ledges- 
lature  &  to  children  to  excite  wonder  perhaps  as  well  as 
any  man. 

But  for  any  practicable  use  to  our  Great  work  he  was  not 

only  of  no  use  but  of  great  disuse,  as  he  helped  the  cause 

nothing  except  to  injure  our  Credit,  which  was  exceedingly 

ticklish,  especially  at  this  time.     His  carousal  &  foolish  dis- 

ice  Freshet  plays  at  Harrisburg  was  however  of  short  duration.    An  Ice 

&  Dams  freshet  soon  came  &  carr*1  off  6  of  our  Small  Dams  &  locks 

&c  break 

that  had  not  been  covered  in,  in  the  preceding  fall. 

But  this  great  Calamity,  as  appear'd  to  the  Public  &  espe- 
cially to  Hauto,  frightened  him  exceedingly,  but  it  confirmed 
most  completely  the  other  2  Managers,  that  the  principle  we 
had  adopted  for  making  Dams  &  Locks  secure  against  Water 
&  Ice  freshets  was  a  perfect  one,  &  that  it  was  now  in  our 
power  to  make  Dams  &  Locks  in  the  Lehigh  entirely  safe. 
&  which  loss  was  of  much  more  value  to  us,  than  the  winters 
passing  over  without  harm,  to  our  works.  Nothing  went  off 
that  was  covered  in,  and  the  bottom  logs  18  in  to  24  in  di* 
which  extended  6  or  10  ft  below  the  dams  to  Receive  a  lower 

42 


slope,  mostly  broke  or  was  worn  off  by  the  Ice  pich*  on  them. 
But  what  was  of  most  value,  this  calamity  enabled  us  to  get 
Rid  of  Hauto,  which  If  we  could  not  effect  I  had  made  up  my 
mind  to  leave  the  concern,  however  much  I  should  loose  by 
this  course.  I  was  with  my  family  in  Philada.  at  the  time, 
Erskine  only  was  on  the  Lehigh,  &  he  informed  Hoto  & 
myself  of  the  disaster.  I  went  up  at  once,  &  as  I  passed  up 
from  the  Lehi  Gap  to  which  our  Dams  &c  had  extended,  I 
examined  &  noted  down  all  the  Damages  &c  &c,  so  that  I  had  i  examine 
all  posted  up  when  I  got  to  M  Chunk  or  Northern  liberties, 
there  being  no  house  at  M  Chunk,  &  we  Resolved  to  make 
use  of  the  Disaster  to  dispose  of  Hoto.  He  at  once  Returned  Hoto 
from  Harrisburg,  &  on  ariving  at  M  Chunk,  instead  of 
examening  the  work  to  see  what  Damage  was  done,  He 
moped  about  as  one  in  great  distress,  for  about  a  week  &  did 
not  to  my  knowledge  examine  a  single  breach 

After  giving  him  a  weeks  time  to  examine  the  work  & 
breaches  for  himself,  I  told  him,  that  as  we  was  out  of  money, 
&  so  much  of  our  works  destroy"1,  we  should  not  be  able  to 
procure  more  money,  while  He  continued  connected  in  the 
C°.  And  proposed  He  should  at  once  go  to  Germany  &  pro-  i  propose 
cure  the  needfull  credentials,  to  satisfy  us  he  was  not  impost 
on  us  by  his  declaring  to  us  he  had  an  Estate  there  of  300,000 
to  500,000,  which  he  could  controul  by  going  there.  I  proposed 
he  should  at  once  leave  the  Board  (or  I  would)  go  to  Germany 
&  make  this  proof.  We  2  would  take  care  of  the  Lehigh  &c 
in  his  absence  without  Charge  to  him  &  on  his  Return  with 
the  proofs  Satisfactory  to  us,  we  would  not  ask  him  to  put 
any  of  it  in  the  Lehigh.  he  might  then  Resume  his  present 
position  in  the  Board  &  the  public  would  also  see  with  us 
that  he  was  an  Honest  &  honerable  Man,  &  all  would  be  well. 

He   declined  going   pleading  he   would   never   go    as   a 
Poor  man.    I  concluded  at  once  as  I  had  fear'd  so  much  before 

43 


that  he  was  an  imposter.  I  asked  him  how  he  could  impose 
himself  so  on  me  with  a  young  family,  his  Reply  was  he  had 
a  Right  to  do  the  best  he  could  for  his  own  interest,  or  words 
to  this  purport.  We  were  perhaps  a  day  making  a  bargain. 
I  proposed  going  out  &  give  him  up  the  concern,  He  Replied 
I  cant  manage  it  &  you  must,  finally  I  told  him_we  would 
give  him  l/2  cent  a  bushell  on  all  the  coal  sent  to  market  by 
buy  the  present  Lehigh  Coal  Co.  &  $3000  cash  for  the  whole  of  his 

out  claim  on  it,  &  the  property  we  had  bought  together;  &  if  he 

did  not  comply  at  once  I  would  give  judgment  &  sell  us  all 
out  for  the  amount  I  was  then  in  advance  for  the  Compy  for 
the  Winters  expenses,  this  brought  him  to,  &  we  made  a 
written  agreement  accordingly  on  the  7  march  1820. 

Thus  we  got  clear  of  a  man,  who  by  an  extraordinary 
course  of  action  had  imposed  on  us,  as  well  as  most  of  his 
His  acquaintance.     He  was  a  litterary  man,  understood  6  lan- 

guages with  talents  for  intreague,  so  much  that  he  entirely  got 
the  blind  side  of  us,  Had  excellent  conversational  Powers, 
could  make  out  his  tales  as  he  went  along  without  any  truth. 
He  appeared  like  a  plain  plodding  industrious  man  &  fond  of 
mechanics,  E.  Hazards  family  had  known  him  a  number  of 
years.  He  imposed  on  John  &  Cha8  Wistar  of  Germantown 
$6000,  which  he  borrowed  of  them,  to  carry  on  a  great  sulphor 
business  at  the  Virginia  Coal  Mines,  by  his  good  address,  & 
fool'd  it  all  away  in  Germantown  &c  without,  makeing  any 
effort  to  begin  those  works. 

He  had  the  nack  of  keeping  in  the  good  graces  of  many 
of  our  wealthy  families  in  Phil3,  from  whom  he  also  borrowed 
money. 

He  had  the  power  of  ingratiating  himself  so  much,  that 
he  lived  —  years  with  M.  Ritter  in  Germantown  without 
paying  his  board. 

44 


Abeel  Abbott  who  had  the  charge  of  Running  our  first 
Boats  down  Lehigh,  on  Returning  by  Germantown,  put  up 
at  Ritters,  &  on  the  Landady  findg  they  were  from  M  Chunk 
asked  if  they  knew  Hauto,  &  finds  it  was  he  that  was  engaged 
in  those  works,  sd  she  allways  thought  Hauto  was  an  honest 
man  &  would  pay  her  for  his  boarding  wen  able  that  he  had 
boarded  with  her  a  great  while  &  had  not  paid  her.  This 
alarmed  Abeel  &  C°.  as  they  had  been  made  believe  by  Hoto, 
that  he  was  the  great  Capitalist  for  carrys  On  the  Lehigh,  who 
they  now  found  had  not  cleared  his  own  teeth. 

This  adventure  like  to  have  broke  us  up,  but  as  we  all- 
ways  paid  on  demand  all  claims  on  us  they  continued  with  us, 
but  concluded  to  be  prudent  &  kept  their  accounts  cosely 
paid  up. 

Hauto  had  got  so  much  in  the  practice  of  stateing  as  facts, 
without  Relation  to  truth,  that,  he  discovered  an  impossibility 
to  tell  the  Truth!  &  if  he  was  sent  out  on  business  along  the 
River  had  the  prudence  of  taking  a  favourite  Irishman  with 
him  to  Report  for  him  the  facts,  as  he  could  not  Rely  on 
himself. 

Of  all  our  troubles,  Hoto  was  the  heaviest  load  we  then 
carried.  I  am  thus  particular  not  to  injure  the  character  of 
a  fellow,  man,  now  no  more,  as  some  appoligy  is  due  for  asso- 
ciating with  such  a  character,  as  he  turned  out  to  be,  for  untill 
he  got  into  us  with  our  Law  &c,  he  appeared  to  us  just  the 
man  we  could  desire  for  our  novel  enterprise.  Hauto  cost  the 
C°.  about  $40,000,  the  n  or  12000  acres  of  coal  lands  about  25 
to  30,000. 

The  whole  of  Hautos  claims  has  since  been  bought  by  the 
Lehigh  C.&N.C0.  who  have  also  bought  the  Fee  simple  in  all 
the  Old  Cos.  Coal  lands  by  buying  out  their  stock.  Efforts 

Our  next  great  job  was  to  Raise  more  money  as  we  had 
spent  all  the  Cos.  Capital,  but  here  was  a  difficulty,  as  the 

45 


Managers 
Censured 


Offer 
to    loan 
$10.000 


the    2    Cos 
amalga- 
mated 


New 
sub- 
scriptions 


1820 

First 
Coal 
Goes  to 
Market 


work  in,  to,  to,  was  experimental  &  thus  far  the  Capital  was 
gone,  that,  was  to  have  completed  it,  &  nearly  i/srd  of  all  our 
Dams  broken  by  the  Ice  freshet,  prooving  thus  far,  that  we 
were  taking  the  same  Road  to  Ruin  of  all  our  predecessors. 

As  I  have  mentioned  we  had  formed  2,  Companies,  viz  a 
Navigation  &  a  Coal  C°.  &  both  C°.  censured  us  their  Man- 
agers for  spending  their  Money  Wastefully.  The  Navigation 
C°.  charged  us  for  spending  it  wastefully  by  spending  it  so 
fast,  by  hurrying  it,  to  accomodate  the  Coal  C°.  And  the 
latter  C°.  complained  because  the  Navigation  was  not  then 
entirely  finished,  so  as  to  send  down  their  coal  &c.  &c. 

Most  of  the  Stockholders  in  one  were  Stockholders  of  the 
other  C°.  &  we  found  they  took  sides,  with  the  stock  their 
interest  preponderated,  if  it  was  only  200  or  300$. 

One  influential  Stockholder  said  he  would  be  one  of  10 
to  Subscribe  $10,000  to  finish  the  work  &  proove  the  value 
of  the  Coal  &c  if  the  C°.  would  mortgage,  to  them  the  whole 
of  their  property.  But  few  joind  him  &  not  en°. 

It  was  finally  concluded  to  amalgamate  the  2  Cos.  which 
was  done  21  April  1820,  on  the  express  condition  that  $20,000 
of  the  Stock  should  be  subscribed  to  &  the  new  Stock  called 
"the  Lehigh  Navigation  &  Coal  C°." 

This  small  increase  of  stock  was  with  Difficulty  obtained 
&  not  untill  $12,000,  of  it  was  taken  by  White  &  Hazard. 
More  than  $6000  of  it  I  had  advanced  to  carry  us  through  the 
winter. 

This  year,  1820,  the  Dams  &  Locks  were  Repaired  &  the 
first  anthracite  Coal  sent  to  market  by  Our  Artifitial  Navi- 
gation, &  the  whole  quantity  sent  this  year  was  364  tons  & 
this  prooved  more  than  en°  for  family  suppliy  in  Philad*.  & 
the  C°.  was  in  debt  to  the  Rollen  Mills  &c  for  taking  of  this 
Stock  alltho  the  C°.  never  asked  more  that  $8.40  a  gross  ton 
whereas  the  previous  C°.  to  ours  asked  as  much  as  they  could 

46 


get  for  it,  &  they  got  $21,  a  ton,  the  consequence  was  the 
Public  would  not  put  up  furnaces  to  burn  it  at  such  extravi-  Difficulty 
gant  price,  as  $21.  This  seemed  to  confirm  the  doubtfull  in 
the  beginning,  who  admitted  we  had  plenty  of  Coal,  but  that 
the  prejudice  of  the  Community,  would  be  against  its  family 
use,  &  which  apprehension  seemed  now  to  be  confirmed. 

during  this  season  of  1820  we  again  got  through  the  funds 
of  the  C°.  again  &  I  loaned  the  C°.  for  all  deficeines  untill 
further  Stock  was  subscribed,  &  which  was  not  till  the  ist 
May  following. 

The  difficulties  to  sell  more  Stock  seemed  to  increase. 
Our  capital  had  been  enlarged  up  to  $125,000,  the  Citizens  of 
Pa.  did  not  incline  to  favour  the  introduction  of  our  Coal  in 
families,  &  many  of  our  stock  holders  said  our  money  was  all 
threwn  away,  for,  if  we  finally  made  the  River  navigable  & 
works  safe  &  which  they  much  doubted,  the  community  would 
not  burn  our  Coal,  &  it  was  not  believed  that  all  the  other 
articles  using  the  navigation  would  be  &  a  new  difficulty  on  New 
the  River  had  presented,  at  the  place  call'd  the  Slates,  where  d 
Slate  Ridges  Run  across  the  River,  where  It  was  400  or 
more  feet  in  width  with  a  general  level  top  except^  full  of 
small  breakes  throu  the  Ledges.  Over  which  we  had  carried 
our  Channels.  But  it  was  found  the  wing  walls  being  so 
lengthy  through  the  slate  Ridge  they  would  not  hold  water 
en°  in  the  channels  so  that  the  cheapest  improvement  was  in 
the  opinion  of  the  Managers  a  Large  Dam,  which  they  esti- 
mated could  not  be  completed  for  less  than  $20,000. 

The  difficulty  of  Raising  a  further  subscription  was  so      182i 
great  as  not  to  be  effected  before  i  May  1821,  &  then  under 
the  foils  extraordinary  circumstances  that  $50,000  more  was 
subscribed,  viz.  New 

All  the  old  subscribers  agreed  that  the  subscription  to  the  ^""P4 

ion  of 

$50,000  which  was  called  new  stock  should  in  future  draw  fso.ooo 

47 


all  the  income  or  profit  of  the  C°.  untill  they  got  3  p  C*  semi- 

anual  divident  &  then  the  balance  of  the  profit  went  to  the  old 

stockholders  untill  they  also  Recd  the  same,  and  the  stock  to 

3  stocki  allways  continue  this  way  untill  there  was  a  profit  en°  to  pay 

graded  all  a  3  p  C'  semianual  divident  &  thence  the  stocks  to  be  equal 

&c  &c 

The  stock  subscribed  as  above  mentioned  was  $125,000. 
White  &  Hazard,  contended  that  their  Revertionary  Interest 
was  worth  fully  this  sum.  It  was  in  the  following  Items, 
viz: 

i       They  had  all  the  profits  from  Tolls  &  Coal  exceed8  20 
PC'. 

2nd.  They  had  all  the  Water  power  under  the  Law  as  they 
only  gave  the  ist  20  p  C*  of  tolls  &c  to  the  C°. 

3  They  Had  the  Whole  of  the  Lumber  Land  which  was  as 
necessary  to  the  C°.  as  the  coal,  for  without  this  Lumber,  the 
Coal  could  not  be  got  to  market  &  it  took  for  the  arks  at  least 
500  ft  board  measure  for  ea  Ton  of  coal. 

4  White  &  Hazard  owned  all  of  M  Chunk  Track  not  neces- 
sary to  the  Navig". 

All  the  Kettle  track  ilA  miles  along  the  River  Shore  oppo- 
site Mauch  Chunk. 

The  Track  which  the  Hotel  is  on. 

500  acres  Coal  land,  up  Room  Run,  "Elizabeth  Weiss," 
50  "  Do  in  Painter  Creek  Valley  &  lower 

Saw  Mill, 

400      "  Dunn  &  Weinder  track, 

About  Half  of  the  old  Coal  Mine  Shares  which  J.  White 
bought,  &  could  have  bought  nearly  the  whole  stock. 

White  &  Hazard  proposed  to  put  all  this  in  at  what  it 
cost  them  to  the  Stock  of  the  C°.  at  the  same  as  the  Stock  of 
the  C°.  had  been  in  advance  for  viz  $125,000  The  C°  sd  it  was 
worth  nothing,  as  the  whole  was  a  failure.  I  Reply'd  it  would 

48 


be  a  failure  if  no  more  was  subscribed,  but  if  they  succeeded 
then  ours  would  be  of  equal  value  to  theirs.  However  I  told 
them,  we  wanted  nothing  more  than  it  was  worth  &  if  they 
would  make  our  Stock  £150,000  instead  of  125,000,  we  would 
agree  to  let  them  Receive  the  first  3  p  C*  semianual  divident 
&  then  we  Receive  up  to  3  p  C*  &  when  all  got  3  p  C1,  all 
should  be  equal  from  that  time.  &  in  this  way  it  was  fixt  & 
our  whole  Interest  amalgamated  &  invested  in  the  Revertion- 
ary  stock  of  the  3rd.  grade  &  this  Stock  was  equalized  in 
1826. 

And  in  addition  White  &  Hazard  gave  a  bonus  of  their  whitc  *  H 

give 

Revertionary  Stock  of  $10,000  to  the  new  subscribers.  $10000 

On  obtaining  this  subscription  the  Slate  dam  was  immedi- 
ately commenced,  but  before  it  was  entirely  finished  a  large         * 


Dam 
freshet  occured  &  carried  part  of  it  away. 

It  was  believed  at  the  close  of  this  year  that  as  our  Work 
was  still  an  experiment,  both  as  to  effecting  the  navigation  & 
making  it  permanent  &  that  the  market  for  take  coal  suffitient 
to   endemniy   us   for  our   disbursemens  was  still   doubtfull, 
for  alltho  we  shipd  down  this  year  1073  tons,  still  the  con-  2d  Year 
sumption  in  families  in  Pa.  &c  was  insufficient  to  take  this  ^ped 
small  quantity  but  the  balance  we  sold  to  factores.  1073  ton* 

Therefore  the  Managers  was  of  the  unanimous  opinion 
that  more  money  could  not  be  Raised  for  the  C°.  as  all  the 
Cos.  property  was  pledged  to  the  last  subscription  of  the 
$50,000  &  the  C°.  had  no  new  security  to  offer  unless  they 
obtained  a  charter  of  incorporation,  so  as  to  Risque  no  more 
than  the  stock  any  individual  might  subscribe. 

The  C°.  obtained  a  charter  of  incorporation  i3th.  Feb.      1822 

Co  gets  a 
l822.  Charter 

In  the  years  1822-23  we  perfected  our  decending  navi-      1322-23  Co 
gation  in  the  Lehigh  &  Contributed  about  4  or  5000  Doll9,  to 
improve  the  channel  of  the  Delaware  River. 

49 


Necessity 
of  Channels 
to  the 
Pine   Forrest 

at 

Difficulties 


About  this  time  we  contrived  the  present  plan  of  Scales 
with  the  Dish  Resting  on  4  knife  edge  fulcrums  &  compound 
Lever  of  knife  edge  fulcrum  for  weighing  our  Coal  waggons, 
the  old  plan  being  much  too  tedious,  this  plan  of  Scales  has 
since  obtained  general  use,  from  small  scales  up  to  weighing 
Loaded  Boats. 

Inasmuch  as  by  our  decending  navigation  we  got  but  one 
trip  out  of  our  boats  when  they  where  knocked  up  &  con- 
verted again  into  Lumber  after  discharging  their  Coal  in 
Philad*.  we  found  it  was  impossible  to  continue  our  Coal 
business  even  in  the  then  small  way,  unless  we,  clear*1  out  and 
contracted  the  channel  as  high  up  the  River  as  the  Pine 
Forrests,  which  was  about  14  miles  above  Nesquhoning  Creek 
(16  miles  above  M  Chunk) 

This  however  was  no  small  job  for  it  was  to  be  effected 
over  Rapids  that  had  formerly  been  abandoned,  as  a  work 
impossible  to  accomplish;  in  this  14  miles  there  was  a  fall 
or  Rise  in  the  River  exceeding  300  ft.  &  the  Rocky  bottom 
was  peculiarly  hard  &  difficult,  &  so  forbidding  was  the 
shore  that  Horses  had  never  been  got  down  to  this  section  of 
the  River  except  in  two  places.  &  to  supply  our  Hands  in  the 
channel,  it  was  necessary  to  begin  at  the  upr  end  and  work 
downwards  &  send  provisions  &  supplies  to  our  Hands  by 
a  Road  about  18  miles  Round  to  the  mouth  of  Laurel  Run  & 
then  put  it  on  a  box  boat  &  go  down  the  chan8  to  the  work 
men. 

No  Raft  had  ever  before  our  channel  was  done  Passed 
down  the  River  from  above  the  Nesquhoning,  &  from  Nes- 
quho*  down  before  our  channel  was  made  it  was  only  navig- 
able for  Rafts,  in  time  of  High  freshets. 

The  Managers  attempted  to  get  plank  for  their  boats 
down  from  the  Forrest  to  M  Chunk  before  the  channels  were 


made,  but  the  tryal  prooved  that  the  plank  wore  out  or  got 
broke  against  the  Rocks  before  they  got  down  to  MChunk. 

Their  next  Resort  was  to  throw  in  saw  Logs  singly  in 
the  Forrest,  drive  them  down  in  high  freshet  by  push*  them 
off  the  Rocks  when  they  got  fast,  but  it  frequently  happened 
when  they  got  a  large  quantity  within  a  small  distance  of 
MChunk,  a  high  freshet  would  occur  &  sweep  the  greater 
part  down  the  River  beyond  our  controul,  in  fact  we  lost  so 
much  Logs  &  Lumber  by  freshets  that,  when  the  C°.  were 
about  settling  Damages  for  their  Canal  The  owners  of  places 
where  this  stuff  of  the  C°  drifted  demanded  Damaged  4  fold 
the  value  of  their  Land  because  of  the  value  of  our  drift  stuff 
&  on  a  Reference  to  one  of  those  cases,  our  man  swore  that 
the  Plaintif  in  question  had  supported  his  whole  family  by 
the  Drift  lumber  on  his  land  (about  i  or  2  acres)  &  had  money 
over  their  support. 

In  the  years  1822  &  1823,  besides  finish*  the  channel  below  Make 
M.Chunk  we  made  the  channels  up  to  the  Pine  forrest. 

In  10  July  1823  our  decending  navigation  on  the  lower 
Grand  Section  was  Reported  completed  according  to  Law 
&  the  Commission  appointed  by  the  Govenor  to  make  the 
examination  in  Septr  17  1823  the  Governor  issued  his  war- 
rant to  take  toll  according  to  Law. 

No  toll  was  charged  by  the  C°  untill  the  year  1827,  being   NO  toil 
3*^  years,  that  the  C°.  was  authorized  to  charge  toll,  without  Charged 
charging  one  cent.    The  Beaver  Meadow  Coal  alltho  a  Rival 
was  admitted  &  did  pass  considerable   quantities  down   in 
1825  &  1826,  without  a  charge  of  one  cent  of  toll,  and  all  the 
Pine  forrest  above  MChunk  would  have  been  Locked  up  from 
public  use  to  this  hour,  had  not  the  River  been  improved  &  up 
to  this  hour  the  C°.  have  not  charged  one  cent  of  toll  on 
the  up  sec"  alltho  the  public  has  had  the   Regular  use  of 
it  for  Nine  years,  being  a  distance  of  about  14  miles. 

Si 


1823 


1824 

Philada 
Managers 
object  to  sendg 
over  3.000  tons 
but  we  sent 
9S41  tons 


ft  saved 
the   Co 


In  the  year  1823  there  was  5,823  tons  of  Coal  sent  down 
the  Lehigh  &  about  1000  tons  of  it  was  left  on  hand  &  unsold 
in  the  follow8  spring,  &  there  still  continued  a  disinclination 
to  use  it  much  in  families  &  folks  in  passing  by  our  Coal  wharf 
constantly  told  us  we  had  over  stocked  the  market. 

Early  in  the  summer  of  1824  the  Managers  fm  Philad* 
visited  M  Chunk  when  a  meeting  was  held  to  consider  how 
much  Coal  the  C°  would  be  safe  in  send8  to  Philad3  when  the 
Managers  fm  Philad*  were  unanimous  in  the  opinion  that  2  to 
3000  tons  was  en°  to  send  down,  which  with  the  stock  on  hand 
at  the  close  of  the  past  Spring  would  be  an  ample  supply? 
they  therefore  desired  the  Acting  Managers  at  MChunk  to 
limit  their  business  to  that  quantity;   in  this  however  the 
MChunk  Managers  difd  in  opinion  but  they  were  permitted  to 
have  their  own  way ;  &  they  sent  down  this  year  the  enormous 
quantity  as  was  then  supposed  of  9,541  tons,  which  large  stock 
produced  no  inconsiderable  alarm  among  the  parties  inter- 
ested in  Philad*.  it  became  proverbial  this  quantity  would  not 
half  be  sold.     This  however  turned  out  the  most  fortunate 
occurrence,  to  our  C°  &  to  the  future  prospects  of  the  Anthra- 
cite coal  business,  for  the  public  now  seeing  so  large  a  stock 
on   hand   our   price    a  uniform   one    of  8.40    Dolls   a   Gross 
ton,  began  more  generally  to  inquire  about  it,  as  a  domestic 
article  that  the  supply  of  it  seemed  to  be  now  ample,  &  likely 
to  be  continued  as  a  full  supply,  for  small  stocks  had  been  left 
on  hand  in  the  spring  for  the  2  preceding  years,  &  now  the 
stock  was  deemed  extremely  large,  being  3  times  the  quantity 
supposed  to  have  ever  been  sold  in  Philad*.  of  the  Bituminous 
Coal  in  one  year.     Stove  makers  &  Grate  sellers  now,   (the 
Winter  of  1824  &  25)  for  the  first  began  to  boast  of  having 
preferable  Patterns  of  Grates  &  Stoves  for  burning  Anthracite 
Coal.    Some  patriotic  Ladies  also  began  their  sample  fires  of 
Anthracite  Coal:  among  them  the  Widow  Guest  in  Sansom 


S*  stood  the  most  conspicuous,  and  of  the  Grate  Sellers  Jacob 
F.  Walters  took  quite  a  leading  part  &  several  others  not 
recollected. 

This  Winter  1824  &  25,  may  be  considered  the  turning  1324 
point  in  the  use  of  Anthracite  Coal,  &  made  the  C°.  begin  to 
think  the  Coal  business  would  grow  fast  enough  to  Require 
making  an  ascending  Navigation,  but  here  again  was  a  diffi- 
culty, there  were  several  grade  of  preferences  in  the  stock  & 
which  required  a  3  per  cent  dividend  out  of  the  net  profits  of 
the  C°  on  all  the  grades  to  produce  an  equality  which  the 
present  business  was  not  sufficient  for. 

The  C°  sent  to  market  28,393  tons  &  the  Schuylkill  began      1925 
&  sent  7,143  tons.    It  was  not  till  January  1826  that  this  desir-      me 
able  event  of  equalizing  the  Stock  took  place.    In  1826  the  Co. 
sent  31,280  tons  of  Coal  to  market. 

In  1827  the  C°  made  their  Rail  Road  of  9  miles  in  length  1827 
it  being  the  first  Rail  Road  (exceeding  a  mile  in  length,)  ever 
made  in  Penns3.  They  began  this  Road  in  January  &  finished 
it  so  as  to  regularly  pass  down  Coal  in  May  following.  This 
year,  the  C°.  sent  to  market  32,074  tons,  the  Road  being 
decending  for  8  miles  to  M.  C.  The  mules,  which  drew  the 
Coal  Cars  up  grade,  Rode  down  grade,  &  thus  performed  daily 
trips  of  40  miles. 

In  1827  the  balance  of  the  stock  was  subscribed  viz 
500,000  dolls,  but  not  without  the  greatest  difficulty.  The 
Books  were  open  one  week  or  more  for  that  purpose,  a  general 
expose  of  the  Coal  business,  present  &  prospective  was  given 
by  the  Cos  engineers  &  subscription  was  headed  by  one  of  the 
Managers  (JWhite)  for  50,000  dolls.  &  by  several  others  for 
large  amounts,  &  notwithstanding  it  was  strongly  appre- 
hended, &  by  many  discreet  folks  predicted  it  would  not  sell, 
we  however  succeeded  but  not  without  the  greatest  exertions 
on  the  part  of  the  Managers  &c. 

53 


In  the  Spring  of  1827  it  was  finally  concluded  we  were 
strong  enough  to  begin  &  prosecute  the  ascending  Navigatn. 
for  the  prosecution  of  that  great  undertaking  the  C°.  employ'd 
Canvass  White  Esq.  as  the  principal  Engineer,  he  having 
established  a  practical  character  for  that  profession  equal  to 
any  in  our  country;  our  next  difficult  point  to  decide,  was  the 
size  of  the  Navigation,  whether  it  should  be  for  boats  carrying 
a  burthen  of  25  tons,  or  for  a  greater  burthen.  Most  of  the 
Engineers  who  had  written  on  the  subject  in  England  & 
America,  recommended  the  25  ton  Navigation,  &  the  Acting 
Managers  White  &  Hazard  at  M.  Chunk,  contended  for  a 
Navigation  sufficient  for  boats  of  130  to  150  tons  burthen: 
they  contended  that  as  the  Lehigh  &  Delaware  afforded  a 
plenty  of  water  for  a  Navigation  of  the  largest  class,  it  would 
be  Suicide  to  permanently  deprive  the  C°.  &  the  public  of  the 
very  best  application  of  all  the  means  Nature  had  afforded 
them  as  a  debt  due  their  C°.  &  also  due  the  Public;  &  par- 
ticularly so,  as  our  C°.  had  Coal  enough  to  supply  the  U. 
States;  &  in  our  case  as  Coal  would  be,  by  far  the  greatest 
article  carried  on  the  Canal,  untill  we  connected  with  Susqa, 
so  that  no  boat  need  ever  descend  to  Philad*  with  less  than  a 
full  load,  let  the  burthen  be  ever  so  great ;  for  any  balance  of 
a  load  could  be  made  in  Coal,  without  materially  detaining  the 
boat  to  procure  her  lading,  &  that  a  large  Boat  would  require 
but  the  same  Crew,  as  a  small  boat  &  consequently  every  ton 
transported  on  the  Canal,  throughout  time,  might  be  carried 
cheaper  for  this  arrangement.  The  debate  was  carried  on  for 
nearly  one  day  &  finally  decided  as  has  been  since  carried  into 
effect,  by  making  the  Locks  conform  to  the  size  of  the  Dela- 
ware &  Chesapeake  Canal,  22  ft  wide,  100  ft  long,  &  5  ft  depth 
of  water,  &  the  width  of  Canal  at  bottom  is  45  feet. 

The  Lehigh  Canal  was  begun  under  the  care  of  Canvass 
White  about  midsummer  1827  &  in  the  Fall  of  the  same  year 

54 


the  Delaware  division  of  the  Pennsa.  Canal  was  also  begun;  so 
that  it  was  but  reasonable  to  suppose  those  respective  works 
would  be  finished  on  or  about  the  same  time  &  thus  one  would 
aid  the  other,  the  Lehigh  Canal  &  Locks  are  double  the  size 
of  the  Delaware  Canal  &  Lockage,  more  than  twice  as  great 
say  as  360  ft  is  to  166  ft  Lockage. 

The  Delaware  Canal  is  however  60  miles  long,  &  the 
Lehigh,  to  Mauch  Chunk  46  miles  in  length.  The  Lehigh 
Canal  was  opened  for  Navigation  on  the  26th.  day  of  June, 
1829;  and  the  Delaware  Canal  is  not  yet  navigable  (Feby. 
1832),  hence  the  Lehigh  C°.  and  the  Public  have  been 
deprived  of  the  use  of  the  Lehigh  Canal,  &  the  Delaware 
Canal  2^  years,  to  the  great  loss  of  all  parties,  but  more 
particularly  heavy  on  the  Lehigh  C°. 

The  Commissioners  appointed  in  due  course  by  the  Gov- 
ernor, 26th.  June  1829,  made  their  examinations  of  the  works 
on  the  Lehigh;  &  reported  them  complete  according  to  Law, 
as  high  as  M  Chunk  July  3rd.  1829  And  on  8th.  July  1829  the 
Governor  granted  authority  to  charge  Tolls  according  to  Law. 
And  on  the  20th.  August  1829,  the  Managers  decided  on  a 
Tariff  of  Tolls  to  be  paid  on  the  Lehigh,  to  commence  on  the 
24th.  of  the  same  m°. 

This  rate  of  Tolls  where  of  course  copied  after  those  on 
the  Schuylkill,  as  that  was  the  only  C°.  in  the  State,  in  receipt 
of  Tolls  on  Canal  Navigation,  &  intended  to  be  the  same  as 
theirs,  &  giving  the  Public  the  advantage  of  a  larger  Canal, 
excepting  in  the  article  of  Anthracite  Coal,  which  article,  then 
interested  no  one,  as  none  were  sending  coal  but  ourselves, 
on  account  of  the  great  land  carriage  our  back  neighbours 
were  subject  to:  &  moreover  this  could  be  revised  at  any 
time,  when  the  Legislature  made  a  Law,  barring  the  State 
from  taking  advantage  of  the  reduction  in  the  event  of  their 
purchasing  the  Navigation,  or  rescinding  their  right  to  pur- 

55 


chase.  Thus  far  the  C°.  has  received  no  dividend,  since  they 
made  their  Canal,  &  their  stock  could  have  been  bought  ever 
since  the  Canal  was  made,  from  90  to  105  pr  c*  for  100  paid, 
so  that  if  the  C".  had  great  advantages,  citizens  who  wished 
to  possess  them,  &  go  into  the  Coal  trade,  have  had  the 
opportunity  to  buy  the  Stock  at  more  than  25  prct  less  than  it 
cost  the  Stockholders.  The  original  Stockholders  have  lost 
in  the  interest  account  upwards  of  40  pr  c*,  after  deducting  the 
dividends,  and  the  last  subscribers  have  lost  18  p*  c1  as  no 
dividend  has  been  made  the  last  3  years,  owing  to  the  expense 
of  making  our  Canal,  &  to  the  procrastinated  finish  of  the 
Delaware  Canal. 

effect  of  The  C°.  spent  in  their  improvements  &  current  Coal  busi- 

prlndpies  ness  upwards  of  1,700,000  Doll8,  at  M.  Chunk,  before  they  had 

any  contention  with  any  one  to  cause  a  resort  to  a  Court  of 
Justice,  which  they  presume  will  be  admitted,  as  testimony 
of  a  strong  kind,  that  they  have  been  both  liberal  &  peaceable, 
in  the  management  of  their  extensive  concerns.  The  C°.  have 
up  to  this  date  (Feb.  1832)  disbursed  at  M. Chunk,  in  their 
improving,  &  current  Coal  business,  exceeding  the  sum  of 
$3%  millions,  which  was  circulated  in  their  own  County  of 
Northampton,  &  the  Counties  adjoining,  which  large  sum  was 
paid  mainly  for  Hands,  wages  &  provisions:  &  consequently 
the  whole  country  has  been  benefited.  The  current  disburs8 
on  coal  this  year  (1832)  is  expected  to  exceed  $300,000,  nearly 
all  which  is  diffused  through  Northampton  &  the  adjoining 
counties.  The  business  is  greatly  on  the  increase,  &  all  this 
work  in  a  barren  country.  There  are  now  526  subscribers 
to  the  Co8.  Stock  &  Loan,  &  allowing  6  persons  to  each  makes 
3156  souls  directly  interested  in  the  affairs  of  the  Company. 
These  are  all  or  mostly  all  American  citizens,  composed  of 
Rich  &  Poor,  the  Widdows  &  the  Orphans,  &  added  to  these 
is  upwards  of  500  workmen,  in  the  daily  employment  of  the 

56 


C°.  throughout  the  season  of  business,  &  this  year  (1832)  is 
but  the  beginning  of  a  navigation  by  Canal  to  tide;  their 
business  is  expected  to  increase  several  fold,  &  so  the  employ- 
ment for  Hands. 

Say  Loan  &  Stockholders  &  families  to  be  3.156  souls, 

at  M  Chunk  &c  1,500 

4.656 
The  money  the  above  spends  supports  an 

equal  number  4,656 

Total  souls  now  supported  by  the  works  of  the  C°  9,312 

The  C°  have  always  declared  they  were  in  the  pursuit  of 
a  practical  work,  &  which  it  is  presumed  their  History  fully 
proves.  They  feel  they  have  fulfilled  the  conditions  of  their 
Law  in  Good  faith,  &  that  on  the  whole  they  have  performed 
their  duty,  which  if  not  the  most  arduous  of  the  kind  in 
the  History  of  their  country,  it  has  been  enough  so,  &  that  as 
the  Pioneer,  in  introducing  one  of  the  greatest  staples  Pennsa 
can  boast  of  (Anthracite  Coal,)  making  the  best  Canal  as  well 
as  the  first  Rail  Road  in  the  State,  &  introduced  into  usefulness 
the  cheap  plan  of  making  a  navigation  by  artificial  freshets. 
In  the  upper  Secn  2  dams  are  made  to  supply  an  artificial  fresh 
a  distance  of  12  miles,  &  a  fall  of  336  ft,  that  they  are  entitled 
at  least  to  the  equal  protection  of  Law,  in  common  with  their 
fellow  citizens,  &  they  dont  think  it  their  interest,  or  the 
public  interest,  for  them  or  for  any  to  have  more,  even  if 
common  honesty  would  bear  out  another  course,  but  which 
they  very  much  doubt,  (these  last  Remarks  are  made  as  a 
disposition  in  our  Legislature  at  this  time  1832  was  evinced 
to  encourage  the  Beaver  Meadow  C°.  &  other  interests  in  the 
2nd  Coal  Region  to  persecute  us,  &  break  us  down  if  in  their 
power) 

57 


As  the  artifitial  freshet  Navig"  is  now  abandoned  &  sub- 
stituted by  a  Canal  &  Slackwater,  It  is  due  to  give  the  char- 
acter of  that  Navig". 

The  River  had  12  small  dams  &  Bear  trap  Locks  of  3  to 
6  ft  high  from  M  Chunk  to  the  Lehigh  Water  Gap,  say  n 
miles  &  9  miles  below  at  the  Slates  a  large  dam  &  Bear  trap 
lock  130  ft  long  30  ft  wide,  made  for  a  lift  lock  &  17  miles 
below  the  Slates  another  Dam  6  or  7  ft  high  &  accend*  lock 
like  that  at  the  Slates. 

i  man  got  on  the  front  Coal  ark  at  MChunk  &  Rode  down 
to  the  2nd  Lock  then  got  off  &  had  time  to  let  down  the  gate 
(tak*  %  to  i  minute)  &  then  got  on  the  foward  boat  again, 
by  this  time  there  would  be  suffitient  water,  passed  through 
the  Lock  &  the  water  above  beginning  to  fall,  they  then 
passed  through  to  the  next  Lock  when  the  same  Lock  tender 
got  off  and  let  the  lock  down  as  before  &  then  got  on  the  ark 
again,  &c  &c  down  through  the  12  Locks  to  the  Gap,  &  let  this 
last  Remain  down  untill  the  pond  Run  down  &  then  walked 
back  in  the  afternoon  putting  u£  all  the  Locks,  so  as  to  hold 
water  for  the  freshet  the  next  day. 

The  opperation  of  this  was  that  the  water  in  one  pond 
made  suffitient  for  to  fill  the  channel  to  the  other  &  so  on  to 
the  Gap,  &  the  accumulation  of  the  12  ponds  here  carried  the 
fleet  of  6  to  9  Boats  or  nests  of  arks  down  to  the  Slates,  the 
pond  here  being  i  mile  long,  which  together  with  the  water 
from  the  12  locks  above  carried  the  arks  &c  down  to  the  37 
mile  dam  17  miles  below  the  slates  &  this  would  take  them 
to  &  down  the  Delaware,  &  give  4  inches  fresh  on  the 
Delaware 

We  have  sent  safely  as  many  sections,  as  would  make  190 
to  200  ft  in  length.  The  average  Boat  say  140  or  150  ft  long, 
1 6  ft  wide  &  sunk  14  or  16  in  sections  16  to  25  ft  long  each 

58 


&  the  whole  Boat  under  charge  of  2  front  &  hind  ore  &  3 
Hands  carr4  70  or  120  tons. 

In  the  3  last  years  of  using  these  boats,  we  avaraged 
make  in  the  whole  of  each  season  of  10  or  12  consecutive 
miles  of  these  boats,  all  made  entirely  from  the  Tree  every 
year,  can*  about  40,000  tons  of  coal  a  year 

Our  Lumber  however  held  out  as  we  had  contemplated 
untill  we  finished  the  accending  navign  a  Sett  of  hands  would 
make  a  single  section  in  ^  hour,  &  7  or  8  Boats  of  5  to  7  Sec" 
ea  was  a  days  work,  the  boards  was  plained  by  water  &  Plank 
jointed  by  water  at  Laurel  Run  &  by  crank  &  man  power  at 
M  Chunk,  the  plank  corked  by  ^  in  Sqr  White  Pine  Strips 
put  corner  ways  into  the  grooves  to  fit  in  the  plank  &  the  bal- 
ance of  corking  was  large  Rushes  brought  from  below  Phil*. 
&  swngled  tow  for  which  we  gave  i  c*  a  Ib. 

The  Boats  were  knocked  to  p8  in  Phil8  &  Lumber,  sold, 
&  the  Iron  sent  Back  by  team,  costing  us  $15  to  $1754  freight, 
a  ton  80  miles,  this  for  the  80  miles  is  say  16  cents  a  Ton  a 
mile.  Our  Coal  is  now  sent  MC  to  Bristol  106  miles  Includ* 
toll  &  Freight  for  1.24  cents  a  ton  equal  to  i  17/100  cents  a 
ton  a  mile.  Cist  &  Minor  in  1816  pd  $4  a  ton  Hallg  Coal  to 
MC  we  now  pay  by  Back  track  15  cts  a  ton. 

The  Boatmen  took  their  boats  to  Philad*  &  Walked  back 
mostly  at  first  of  latter  years,  they  hired  teams  on  the  way  to 
bring  them  back  faster. 

On  the  19  June  1838  the  Accending  Navign  on  the  Up* 
Secn  of  5  ft  water  was  completed  &  past  inspection  &  C° 
authorized  to  take  tolls  &c  &c. 

The  Decending  Navigation  fm  Stodartsville  to  Wrights 
Creek  12  21/100  miles  being  the  extreme  end  of  our  limits 
Reported  by  Com8  as  finished  27  Octr  1837  &  *he  Govenr 
authorized  tolls  on  the  same  2,  Nov  1837. 

59 


in  1840,  the  Rail  Road  from  White  Haven  to  Wilksbe  was 
completed  (20  miles)  so  as  to  be  passible  &  our  Engines  on 
all  the  Planes,  &  we  intended  to  put  all  in  opperation  in  1841, 
but  the  flood  on  the  Lehigh  of  7  @  8  Jan*  1841,  overflow'd  all 
our  work  from  Mudd  Run  to  Easton  &  caused  damages  which 
cost  about  $500,000  to  Repair  &  increase  its  strength  to  be 
secure  against  a  similar  flood,  put  off  the  final  completn  of  this 
Rail  Road  untill  1846. 

The  Back  Track  to  our  Mines  by  gravity,  as  I  had  sud- 
gested  many  years  ago,  when  we  was  consid*  the  best  plan  of 
our  Rail  Road  in  1826,  was  put  in  practical  operation  this 
Spring  1846,  together  with  my  plan  of  the  Safety  Cars  &c  & 
our  mules  on  this  Road  of  8  miles  all  discharged. 

The  Iron  Bands  which  I  sudgested  &  made  many  experi- 
ments on,  answer  well  &  8  mo  1846,  I  now  consider  all  the 
great  leading  parts  of  the  works  of  the  C°  essentially  com- 
pleted &  all  prooven  to  answer  well. 

The  Locks  on  the  Lehigh  of  3  times  the  ordinary  hight, 
pleagued  us  much  to  get  engineers  to  take  charge  of  building 
them,  a  model  of  which  I  made  &  sent  to  our  C°  office,  to  con- 
vince our  Board  of  the  necessity  of  making  them  in  that  way, 
owing  to  the  Great  Lockage  on  the  Upr  See"  of  Lehigh  The 
Lockage  M  Chunk  to  White  Haven  is  600  ft  nearly,  &  distance 
25  miles. 

The  ordinary  Lift  of  Lock  being  8  ft  would  give  75  locks, 
this  at  6  minutes  passing  a  lock  for  150  locks  going  both  ways 
is  15  Hours  or  nearly  iy2  days.  Whereas  by  having  the  high 
lift  &  about  i /3d  of  the  Locks  we  save  a  day  to  each  boat  in 
makg  the  trip  allowing  only  100  boats  pass*  a  day  of  200  days 
at  $3.  valu  of  a  boat  &  crew  a  day  is  $60,000  a  year  saved  & 
as  it  now  is,  a  Boat  makes  a  trip  up,  or  down,  in  less  than  one 
day,  &  the  C°.  save  2/3rd  of  the  Lock  Tenders  equal  to  $6,000 
a  year.  One  of  our  Locks  is  30  ft  lift  &  fills  or  emptes  in  less 

60 


than  3  minutes.  On  applys  to  Engineers  to  carry  out  this  plan, 
they  one  &  all  objected ;  some  one  plea,  &  some  another,  untill 
I  came  to  E.  A.  Douglass,  our  present  Superintendent  & 
Engineer,  &  he  on  my  nameing  the  plan  to  him  agreed  to  it, 
at  once,  &  at  once  I  employd  him. 

One  of  the  Engineers,  E.  M.  I  applied  to,  being  more 
candid  perhaps  than  the  others,  told  me  he  must  be  candid  & 
say,  his  objections  to  our  employment,  was,  that  he  did  not 
think  our  plan  of  High  lifts  would  answer!  &  advised  us  not 
to  make  so  great  an  experiment!  I  Reply3  to  him,  that  our 
object  in  applying  to  him,  was  to  do  the  work,  &  not  to  give 
us  a  plan !  that  we  were  too  old  in  this  kind  of  business  to  look 
to  our  young  folks  for  plans ! ! 

The  truth  is,  if  we  had  adopted  the  old  plan  of  Locks  of 
low  lift,  the  work  when  done,  would  be  too  tedious  in  passing 
the  locks  to  be  of  any  value,  to  our  C°  or  to  the  Public ;  &  as 
it  now  is  made,  it  is  the  cheapest  Navign  of  our  two  grand 
sections  to  use,  &  much  the  least  in  cost  of  annual  Repair. 
And  we  have  now  lived  to  see  the  day  that  the  public  & 
Engineers  is  as  much  opposed  to  small  Canals  &  Small  Locks 
as  they  were  at  the  beginning  of  our  Canal,  Opposed  to  Large 
Canals  &  Locks.  &  the  Rival  Canals  (Schuylkill  &  others)  are 
make  their  Canal  &  Locks  over  again  to  get  them  Large,  so  as 
to  meet  our  Rivalship  &  that  of  RailRoad. 

It  has  been  frequently  said  of  latter  years,  that  the  Dela- 
ware Canal  was  made  for  the  accomodation  of  our  Coal  from 
Lehigh  &c  &  that  we  were  consequently  under  great  obliga- 
tion to  the  State  for  making  it  &c  &  that  they  made  the  Locks 
ii  ft  wide  for  our  accomodation,  whereas  we  wished  them  22 
ft  the  same  dimentions  as  our  own,  but  if  they  would  not 
make  them  of  our  size,  as  the  alternative  we  advised  them  of 
half  our  width,  so  that  2  boats  going  through  our  Lock  at  a 
time,  one  of  them  would  fit  theirs  &  go  one  at  a  time. 

61 


But  our  vew  was  not  to  Canal  along  the  Delaware,  but 
to  make  channels  &  Slack  Water,  which  is  shown  by  this 
Dft  &  Petition,  which  we  got  sighned  &  sent  to  Harrisburg  in 
the  years  1823-24  &  used  all  our  influence  to  get  a  Law 
passed  accordingly. 

With  this  plan  we  supposed  it  might  take  6  to  12  locks 
on  the  Delaware  &  the  Rest  mere  channels.  We  expected  to 
get  4  ft  water  in  lowest  time  &  5  at  other  times.  &  that  it 
would  carry  Steam  or  boats  of  150  tons  &  for  which  we  had 
made  4  locks  in  advance  on  the  Lehigh  30  ft  wide  &  130  ft 
long  so  as  to  have  a  steam  boat  navig"  of  150  tons  burthen  to 
Mauch  Chunk.  Had  we  succeeded  with  this  plan  in  1824, 
There  can  be  little  doubt  the  Lehigh  would  have  sent  $4  of 
all  the  Anthracite  Coal  sent  to  tide,  for  many  years  to  come  & 
more  than  probable  forever  &  now  been  entirely  out  of  Debt. 
As  we  should  have  drawn  the  Coal  Trade  from  Tuscarora  & 
perhaps  from  Pottsville  as  Potts ville  via  M  Chunk  to  N  York 
is  202  miles  &  by  Schuylkill  to  NYork  it  is  23 — &  Schuy1 
Navign  25  tons  &  ours  150  tons.  All  of  the  2nd.  Coal  Region 
up  Lehigh  &  all  from  Wilksb*  &  Wyoming  Region. 


62 


DELAWARE    NAVIGATION 


The  above  is  a  sketch  of  the  plan  proposed  for  the 
improvement  of  the  River  Delaware,  by  the  Lehigh  Coal  and 
Navigation  Company. 

No.  i  Represents  the  kind  of  improvement  to  be  adopted 
at  all  the  falls  where  the  water  can  be  made  three  feet  deep 
by  means  of  wing  dams  (or  by  sinking  the  bottom  of  the 
river)  to  confine  it  in  an  open  channel,  without  making  it  too 
rapid  for  a  boat  to  ascend  by  the  power  of  a  steam  engine — 
All  such  channels  to  be  improved  by  the  Company  and  kept  in 
repair  at  their  expense  and  to  be  used  by  the  public  FREE 
OF  TOLL. 

No.  2  Is  an  example  of  the  improvement  of  a  fall;  where 
the  water  would  be  too  rapid  for  the  ascent  of  a  steam  boat 
by  the  power  of  her  engines. — In  all  such  cases,  a  Lock, 
thirty  feet  wide  and  one  hundred  and  thirty  feet  long, 
would  be  made  at  one  of  the  shores,  and  all  boats, 
&c.  using  the  Lock,  either  in  ascending  or  descending 
would  be  subject  to  toll. — But  at  these  places  the  present 
channels  would  be  left  uninterrupted  and  free  for  the  passage 
of  boats  without  toll.  The  work  to  be  conducted  in  such  a 
manner  that  the  use  of  the  river  by  boats  and  rafts,  on  the 
present  plan,  shall  not  be  interrupted  during  any  stage  of  its 
progress.  Opening  can  be  left  in  the  wings  near  the  shore 
to  admit  the  upward  passage  of  the  Durham  boats. 

NOTE. — The  above  plan  guarantees  the  continuance 
forever  of  a  free  open  channel,  improved  and  kept  in  repair 
at  the  expense  of  the  Company,  except  the  channels  in  the 
same  fall  with  the  lock,  which  will  be  left  open  as  they  now 

63 


are.  It  also  guarantees  forever  against  any  obstructions  to 
the  usual  running  of  the  fish  up  the  river — No  part  of  the 
improvement  overflows  or  injures  private  property. — The  mills 
at  present  erected  on  the  river  will  be  secured  in  their  titles, 
and  finally  the  river  will  be  made  capable  of  transporting  a 
greater  amount  of  tonnage  than  any  canal  now  in  existence. 

From  the  inspection  of  the  map  of  Pennsylvania,  it  will 
be  evident  that  the  improvement  of  the  Delaware  must  be  a 
matter  of  deep  interest  to  nearly  one  half  of  the  population 
of  this  State  and  of  New  York,  as  Canals,  to  connect  it 
with  the  Susquehanna  and  with  the  New- York  grand  canal 
at  the  Seneca  river  are  quite  practicable,  and  this  route  would 
have  the  advantage  of  being  the  shortest  and  of  affording, 
upon  arrival  at  Easton,  the  choice  of  the  two  best  markets 
in  the  Country — that  of  Philadelphia,  by  the  Delaware  and 
that  of  New- York  by  the  Jersey  Canal. 

The  Lehigh  Coal  and  Navigation  Company,  have  pro- 
posed this  plan,  and  are  desirous  it  should  be  adopted,  either 
by  the  state  on  its  own  account,  or  by  a  new  incorporation,  or 
if  neither  of  these  are  willing  to  undertake  the  task,  they  ask 
the  liberty  of  doing  it  themselves. — If  the  state  would  under- 
take it,  and  make  the  LOCKS  FREE,  the  Lehigh  Company 
would  contribute  handsomely  to  the  work. 


Presented  1823-24. 

To  the  Honorable,  the  Senate  &  House  of  Represen- 
tatives of  the  Commonwealth  of  Pennsylvania. 

THE  PETITION  of  the  subscribers,   citizens  of  Pennsyl- 
vania residing  in  the  county  of 

Respectfully  she<weth, 

THAT  we  live  in  an  age  when  the  spirit  for  Inland  Navi- 
gation is  so  general  throughout  our  Country,  that  if  advantage 
is  not  taken  by  our  own  State  or  its  Citizens,  in  connecting 

64 


districts,  naturally  favourable  for  making  an  Artificial  Navi- 
gation, those  districts  become  in  a  greater  or  less  degree 
insulated  or  locked  up  from  a  market  by  more  enterprising 
neighbours,  and  perhaps  no  State  is  more  favoured  by  nature 
for  an  interior  navigation  than  our  own,  and  no  part  more 
interesting  to  the  public  to  be  improved  than  the  river  Dela- 
ware. 

Your  Petitioners  therefore  respectfully  request,  that  a 
law  may  be  passed  for  making  an  ascending  and  descending 
navigation  on  the  river  Delaware,  from  Tide  to  Easton,  for 
the  account  of,  and  benefit  of  the  state,  or  permit  the  Lehigh 
Coal  and  Navigation  Company  to  make  that  improvement,  on 
the  plan  they  have  proposed  and  which  is  annexed  hereto. 
And  your  Petitioners  will  ever  pray,  &c. 

The  Law  for  Improving  the  Delaware  by  Canal,  was 
brought  by  Col1  Erie  of  Easton,  who  was  then  a  Senator.  We 
believed  brought  about  to  oppose  our  C°  procuring  the  Law 
for  make  the  River  a  Slackwater  navigation,  as  that  Borrough 
was  allways  opposed  to  us. 

The  State  began  their  work  in  the  Fall  of  1828  &  we  had 
begun  the  Lehigh  Canal  in  the  spring  of  the  same  year,  ours 
was  finished  &  in  use  in  the  fall  of  1829.  But  the  Delaware 
Canal  not  till  3  years  after.  The  Contractors  on  the  Dela- 
ware, was  permitted  to  fill  up  the  Canal  to  bottom  with  bad 
material  &  when  Reported  to  be  finished,  would  not  hold 
water.  It  was  then  put  under  my  charge  to  make  it  a  good 
job,  which  I  was  only  able  to  effect  by  overhalling  a  large 
part  of  it. 

Perhaps  the  greatest  personal  exposure  I  ever  underwent, 
was  in  a  few  days  after  hearing  of  the  Sweeping  Flood  on  the 
Lehigh  which  occurred  on  the  7  @  8  Jan?  1841.  I  being  then 
60  years  of  age,  less  about  2  months,  though  in  good  health. 
I  had  then  lived  in  the  city  for  about  9  or  10  years,  &  experi- 
enced but  little  bodily  exercise,  during  this  time  together  with 

65 


age   having   weakened    &    stiffened    my    mussels,    the    exer- 
cise I  had  on  going  on  foot,  up  the  banks  of  the  Canal  to 
examine  the  inroads  of  the  flood  (with  E.  A.  Douglass  our 
Engineer)   in  snow  &  slush  about  6  to  9  inches  deep,  from 
South  Easton  to  the  Lehigh  Gap  a  distance  of  say  34  miles  in 
2  days,  which  nearly  exhausted  me.    I  felt  it  my  duty  to  do 
all  I  could,  &  I  gave  up  my  strength  freely.    I  was  shocked  & 
mortified,   at  the   prostration   of  our   Work   Instead   of   our 
Improvement,  being  at  the  top  of  the  neighboring  ones,  it 
now  was  at  the  bottom,  together  with  the  wide  spread  Ruin 
to  many  who  had  more  of  their  Estate  in  it  than  they  could 
bear  without  great  suffg,  had  the  effect  to  not  make  the  con- 
tinuance of  my  Life  desirable,  so  far  as  any  thing  in  this  world 
was  concerned — as  now  all  my  labours  of  body  &  mind  seemed 
a  total  failure.     I  expected  nothing  but  the  finger  of  scorn 
from  all,  Its  true  I  felt  no  conviction  of  meriting  this,  as  I 
thought  I  had  throughout  done,  all  I  was  able  to  do  &  at  all 
times.    But,  as  Results  gives  the  Character  to  the  Act,  to  my 
fellow  beings,  &  they  now  goaded  by  losses  of  which  I  had 
been  the  principle   Instrument,   to  leading   them   into,   they 
would  naturally  encourage  a  hardness  against  me,  &  contempt. 
The  great  flood  of  Jan*  1841,  put  us  on  our  Back  again, 
&  seemed  to  call  up  the  last  of  our  energies  for  this  Great 
Work,  at  a  time  or  in  the  year  that  we  supposed  we  should 
have  the  whole  of  our  work  if  not  entirely  perfected,  in  Profit- 
able Opperation  throughout.    In  addition  to  the  new  demand 
for  Money  for  our  great  Repairs  &  fortifying  our  work  against 
any  similar  disaster,  we  had  several  $100,000  to  pay  of  Loan 
due  this  corns  Spring,  &  the  Public  beginning  to  conclude  our 
Work  was  so  far  destroy'd  that  we  should  be  unable  to  Repair 
it  again  &  consequently  be  abandoned. 


66 


We  found  ourselves  in  the  extraordinary  dilemma,  for 

providing  for  Repairing  our  Work, 
for  providing  money  or  some  means  of  satisfy*  Loans  due 

this  year 
&  for  protecting  the  Stock  &  Loan  holders  in  general 

against  a  sacrafice  of  their  property  &  thus  loose  all, 
We  had  nearly  1400  loan  holders 
&  perhaps  400  or  600  stock  holders 

making  the  whole  stock  at  this  time  $1,503,550 

&  the  whole  loan  4,011,503.32 


total  stock  &  loan  (1841)  $5»5 15.053-32 

The  whole  "of  this  might  be  sacrafised  by  a  Debt  due  of 
$100,000,  &  over  $300,000  was  due  in  the  spring. 

To  get  through  our  Difficulties  we  executed  a  Mortgage 
Loan,  secured  on  our  Property  in  Phila  &  the  Coal  Mines  &c 
not  to  exceed  $1,000,000  pble  at  6  p  C1  int*  quarterly,  &  pble 
in  10  years. 

We  proposed  to  all  the  loans  corns  due  this  year  to  Rein- 
vest in  the  Mortgage  loan,  &  to  the  Stock  &  Loan  Holders  to 
subscribe  in  Money  to  this  Loan. 

I  subscribed  to  this  Loan  in  Money  first  $20,000 

&  afterward  Do  10,000 


$30,000 
$20,000  of  this  I  had  to  borrow  on  mortgage 

But  of  the  certificats  fall*  due  some  would  not  subscribe 
&  about  60  or  70,000  was  carried  to  Judgment,  of  which  I  paid 
off  &  took  the  Cos  Judg*  over  $7,000  other  Managers  took 
together  Do  say  16,000  Doll*  more. 

And   I   went   security   for   stay   of   execution    i    year   about 
$27,000 

67 


The  C°  had  hard  work  to  keep  off  Judg*  a  year,  &  time 
en°  to  execute  a  general  Mortgage  for  which  they  got  a  Law 
to  effect,  in  1841.  but  finally  they  accomplished,  the  entire 
Security  of  their  whole  property,  for  27  years,  by  putting  a 
Mortgage  on  their  whole  property  every  wheres,  conditioned 
for  the  payment  of  all  their  Creditors  within  sd  27  years. 

And  I  hope,  within  half  of  sd  27  years  all  their  Creditors 
will  be  paid,  provided  we  have  no  Revolution  in  mean  while  & 
that  there  continu  a  Reasonable  prosperity. 

This  year  1846  we  hope  to  bring  down  from 

our  own  mines  over  300,000  tons, 

&  from  mines  above  as  a  toll  on  250,000     " 


&  we  have  put  tunnels  under  contract  at  the  old  Mines  & 
Room  Run  which  in  2  or  3  years  will  we  believe  be  able  to 
send  annually  to  market  1,000,000  tons  Coal  a  yr  and  if  the 
market  takes  this  Coal,  with  an  expected  addition  from  the 
2nd  &  3rd  Coal  Region  above  us  of  6  to  800,000  tons  we  I 
trust  will  not  be  many  years  paying  all  our  debts,  great  as 
they  now  appear  to  be  &  surely  are.  The  C°  has  now  paid  up 
all  my  Judg*  &  my  securities,  for  them,  &  this  season  she 
expects  to  pay  all  Judgments  against  them,  as  well  as  essen- 
tially all  prefered  claims.  &  now  8  mo  1846,  verry  little  of 
the  C°*  business  now  lays  on  me,  which  is  generally  brought 
to  a  state  of  maturity,  that  does  not  now,  &  I  hope  never  will 
Require  much  more  of  my  service.  And  could  I  now  for  the 
short  Remainder  of  this  life  devote  my  mind  to  my  Maker  for 
the  benefit  of  my  own  soul  as  constant  as  that  I  have  hitherto 
devoted  it  to  business  to  get  me  out  of  my  difficulties,  & 
secure  my  fellow  men  who  had  intrusted  me  &  our  C°.  with 
their  property,  Happy,  thrice  happy,  would  my  lot  be,  for 
then  I  should  be  in  close  communion  with  him,  who  has  gone 
to  prepare  mantions  for  me,  to  dwell  with  him  in,  to  the 

68 


endless  ages  of  all  Eternity.  Ah  happy  should  I  be  to  take 
the  council  of  him  who  said,  Seek  &  ye  shall  find,  pray  without 
ceasing  &  in  every  thing  give  God  thanks  &  thus  love  all  his 
creation  through  him  that  Loved  me,  &  gave  the  sacrafice  of 
his  Body  for  me  &  for  all 

The  state  of  Engineering  was  barely  known  in  Penns* 
when  I  began  my  career  in  1810,  at  the  Falls  of  Schuylkill. 
Our  Country  had  been  since  the  Revolution,  to  this  time, 
under  the  sway  &  influence  of  Merchantile  opperations,  as  the 
only  avenue  to  fortune.  Mashinests,  was  not  known  here,  & 
perhaps  no  mechanic  among  us  competent  to  turn  a  Metal 
joint  water  tight 

So  difficult  was  it  to  get  Mechanics  even  of  the  indifferent 
kind  we  had,  that  our  large  steam  Engine  at  Fair  Mount  cost 
the  city  $80,000,  (low  pressure) 

Oliver  Evans  afterwards  agreed  with  the  Councils  to 
make  one  of  High  pressure  for  about  J^rd  this  price,  which 
was  considered  allmost  presumptions. 

Since  then  in  1840,  The  Lehigh  C°.  bought  several  for 
their  planes,  &  one  of  them  140  horse  power,  (greater  power 
than  the  one  at  Fair  Mount)  for  about  i/yth  the  cost  of  the 
fair  mount  one. 

No  Locks  or  Canals  had  been  made  in  Pennsylvania,  that 
were  in  use,  except  2  locks  at  York  Haven  Susq*  &  the 
adjoining  2  miles  of  Canal,  &  no  Dam  had  been  built  over  a 
Stream  in  Penns*  greater  than  the  Brandywine  (Delaware 
State) 

Freight  or  carriage  in  our  State  cost  15  to  20  cents  a  ton 
a  mile- — &  now  1846  it  is  Reduced  to  i  1/16  cent  a  ton  a  mile 
on  the  Lehigh  &  Delaware  Canal  (includ8  toll.) 

It  was  perhaps  under  these  peculiar  circumstances  of  a 
lack  of  Mechanics  &  paucity  of  Public  Improvements,  which 
did  not  become  conspicuous  for  10  or  15  years  after  I  began 

69 


my  public  life,  that  I  am  indebted  to  for  the  number  &  char- 
acter of  my  discoveries. — I  seemed  indeed  to  have  got  into  a 
field,  of  business,  apparently  untryed  in  this  Country!  &  the 
calls  on  me  &  our  C°  for  the  saving  of  labour,  in  our  immence 
outlays,  seemed  to  make  mine  &  our  necessities  the  parent 
of  our  inventions. 

Many  of  the  following  may  have  been  invented  by  others 
before  me  (but  of  which  I  knew  nothing)  &  they  nevertheless 
are  true  inventions  of  mine. 

My  Inventions  are  as  follows 

i — Rollen  Nails;  with  4  wheels  working  together  &  indented 
to  suit  the  nail  &c. 

2  Cast  Iron  plates  to  draw  wire,  the  holes  cast  on  a  pin  to 

make  them  hard. 

3  Mashine,  for  washing  Wire,  by  water  power  as  a  substitute 

for  manual  power. 

4  Sheet  Iron  Boats — 

5  Wire  Fences — 

6  "     Bridges — 

7  drilling  stone  by  water  power  (I  drilld  the  Blocks  for  Room 

Run  Rail  Road) 

8  The  plan  of  erecting  Dams,  wherin  the  head  of  Water  lays 

On  &  not  against  the  Dam — say  3  or  more  Base  to  one 
Rise  &  cover  the  top  in  strong,  as  on  the  Lehigh. 

9  Bear  Trap  Lock,  to  make  artifitial  freshet  navigation,  as 

on  the  Lehigh. 

10  The  high  lift  locks  on  Lehigh  &  manner  of  feed. 

11  The  Safety  Car,  for  inclined  plans,  to  colapse  &  go  into 

the  pit,  &  save  an  extra  track  up  the  plans. 
ia     Propellers,  to  extend  power  to  a  distance. 

(Erskine  Hazard  &  E.  A.  Douglass  invented  the  Fric- 
tion Carrier  &  Qualifying  Wheels,  of  the  fidlers  at  M 

70 


Chunk  &  £.  A.  Douglass  invented  to  Hold  fasts,  to 
prevent  Runaways.  My  plan  of  friction  Rollers  were 
cogged  Roller  for  going  up  a  plane) 

13  Ridding  the  Mules  from  the  Mines,  8  Miles,  by  which 

their  daily  work  was  40  miles,  being  Double  distance. 

14  The  Back  track,  as  at  M  Chunk,  to  save  the  Mules  on  this 

8  miles  alltogether. 

15  Greasing  the  Car  wheels,  through  a  spunge  by  which 

means  the  oil  falls  by  drops  &  is  allways  Clean. 
1 6,    Raising  the  Road  Waggons  3  to  6  tons  ea  of  Coal  by 
Horse  to  tilt  them  into  a  shute  &  thence  Run  over  a 
Skreen  to  load  our  boats. 

17  I  propose  this  plan  driven  by  Steam  power  to  Raise  & 

tilt  our  Coal  boats,  into  sea  vessels  to  save  time  &  at 
about  i/io  the  present  expense 

1 8  Scales,  on  Compound  Levers  &  knife  Edge  fulcrum,  put 

ours  up  at  M  Chunk  in  1821  to  22.  This  scale  is  now  in 
general  use,  from  the  Counter  to  the  Weigh  Lock  in 
Canals. 

19  Plan  for  multiplying  the  Capacity  of  a  Canal  4  fould, 

more  or  less,  By  lengthening  the  Locks,  as  proposed  to 
Govr  Porter  3  mo  5,  1842  for  the  State  Canals. 

20  The  system  of  Slack  Water  Navigation,  in  the  place  of 

Canals,  for  our  Rivers,  proposed  it  for  Schuylkill  to  our 
Ledgeslature  in  1812,  13. 

21  Grooving  plank  &  Planeing  Boards  by  Water  Power,  for 

our  Coal  arks. 

22  Balance  Lock,  by  which  most  of  the  water  is  saved,  in 

passing  boats,  &  verry  great  increase  of  dispatch,  in 
passing  the  boat  through  it. 

23,  Iron  Bands  in  place  of  Rope  or  Chain  for  Planes  the 
Drum  Requiring  to  be  1000  times  the  diameter  of  the 
band,  to  prevent,  the  staple  getting  a  sett. 


34    The  Plan  of  Making  a  Channel  &  Lock  Navigation  for 
Steam  boats  on  the  Delaware,  River,  proposed  in  1823 

25  The  Plan  of  Channel  Navigation  with,  &  without,  Arti- 

fitial  freshets  in  the  Lehigh,  which  we  carried  out  prac- 
tically &  Regularly  for  8  or  9  years  &  by  which  we 
introuced  Anthracite  Coal  into  Philad*  &c,  4  years 
before  the  Schuylkill  Canal  C°  alltho  we  obtained  our 
Law  3  years  after  that  C°. — 12  miles  of  this  kind  of 
navig"  is  yet  Retained  on  the  upper  Lehigh  from 
Stoddartsville  to  White  Haven  pool. 

26  Water  Break,  effected  by  a  cylinder  &  Dble  stroke  piston 

urged  against  water,  to  threw  it  through  a  valve  that  is 
under  Regulation  to  give  it  all  the  Resistance  Required 
&  usse  the  same  water  allway.  this  I  attached  to  the 
wheel  of  a  coal  car  to  prevent  all  accelerated  velocity 
when  I  proposed  making  the*  Rail  Road  at  Mauch 
Chunk,  &  applicable  to  any  position  Requiring  great 
brake,  viz 

The  Top  is  a  pipe  connected  with  each 
end  of  the  cylinder  with  a  valve  in  center 
for  Regulation,  this  plan  is  adopted  on 
the  Penn*  Portage  Rail  Road  &  on  the  Lehigh  Planes 
near  Wilks  barra 

27  Plan  &  principle  of  High  Dams  &  High  lift  Locks  as  intro- 

duced on  the  upper  section  of  Lehigh,  about  Y*  the 
height  of  these,  was  deemed  the  greatest  practical 
hight  before 

Attached  is  a  copy  of  "A  History  of  the  Lehigh  Coal  and 
Navigation  Company"  published  in  1840,  on  which  is  written 

This  pamphlet  (History)  I  have  appended  to  mine,  as 
giving  so  far  as  it  Runs  my  History,  wrote  out  Ruff  (first) 

by  my  self  &  finished  by  E.  Hazard. 

J.  WHITE. 

72 


NOTE. — The  following,  which  is  part  of  another  memor- 
andum, is  included,  as  showing  more  in  detail  the  financial 
situation  of  Josiah  White,  which  led  him  to  undertake  the 
lease  of  the  lands  of  the  Lehigh  Coal  Mine  Company  and  the 
improvement  of  the  Lehigh  River. 

I  went  out  of  business  about  the  year  1808  &  in  1810  I 
bo*  the  Falls  of  Sch1  &  by  about  1813  I  had  got  through  my 
money  about  $55,000  in  the  Improovement,  at  the  Falls  & 
Required  more,  when  I  call'd  on  Jos.  Gillingham  who  had 
now  got  in  to  good  circumstances,  &  proposed  to  him  to  loan 
me  his  note,  for  me  to  Raise  money  on,  at  Bank,  which  he 
unhesitatingly  did,  &  it  seemed  to  give  him  pleasure  that  he 
now  was  able  to  pay  his  debt  to  me. 

Some  time  after  the  above  accomodation  to  me,  I  sold 
Jos  Gillm  my  little  mill  at  the  Falls  (I  think  for  $12,000)  which 
was  a  further  accomodation  to  me,  but  wether  he  bought  it 
for  my  accomodation  or  his  own  profit  I  leave. 

After  this  he  bought  the  balance  maks  7/9*  of  all  my 
interest  at  the  falls,  (includg  the  small  mill),  which  was  a 
further  accomodation  to  me,  but  I  suppose  his  bargain  was  to 
meet  his  own  interest,  as  I  had  done  &  he  to  advance  the 
money  for  its  improvement  on  interest  for  my  half. 

After  this  he  joined  me  &  Erskine  Hazard  in  the  "Whites- 
town  Manufacturing  C°  which  also  was  a  further  accomoda- 
tion to  me,  as  he  found  the  moneyd  capital  for  our  business. 

We  all  lost  on  the  Factory,  which  was  his  Risque  as  well 
as  ours  &  as  we  found  great  difficulty  in  letting  our  water 
powers  on  the  West  side  of  the  Falls,  from  the  backwater 
from  Ice  &  tide  &  the  Whitestown  Manufacturing  C°. 
prooving  to  be  a  loosing  concern,  I  became  alarmed,  that  I 
should  ultimately  become  a  bankrupt. 


*This  ia  an  error,  it  should  be  7/16. 

73 


If  our  power  would  let  at  our  prices,  on  the  west  side  of 
Sch1,  It  would  have  produced  as  I  then  estimated,  for  the 
whole  power  of  the  falls  the  interest  of  $250,000,  or  $15,000  a 
yr  of  which  9/16  was  mine,  &  then  I  would  have  declined  all 
Manufacturing  business  &  Relied  on  my  Income,  as  I  had 
originally  intended  when  I  first  engaged  at  the  Falls.  But 
the  power  to  much  extent,  would  not  Rent,  &  I  my  Debt  at 
the  Bank  of  Germantown  amounted  to  about  $20,000.  I 
became  greatly  alarmed. 

In  ii  mo  1817  I  proposed  to  the  Schuylkill  Navig"  C°  to 
make  temporary  improvement,  so  as  to  get  coal  down  in  one 
year!  &  to  agree  to  charge  toll  not  to  exceed  5  cts  a  bu  =  1.40 
cts  a  ton!  but  they  hooted  at  the  idea  of  less  than  en°  to 
Reduce  the  cost  of  transportation  to  y*  or  ^rd  the  Cost  by 
Carting  on  the  Turnpike  say  to  about  30  cts  a  bu  or  $8.40  a 
ton,  &  declined  the  temporary  navign  altogether. 

I  then  proposed  they  should  authorize  us  to  moove  our 
Dam  to  any  place  above  Fair  Mount  bridge  so  that  we  could 
get  the  supply8  of  the  City  with  Water  Power  to  Raise  its 
Water  into  their  Reserva  at  Fair  Mount,  which  they  also 
declined. 

Nothing  but  Ruin,  seemed  to  present  to  me,  unless  I  could 
leave  the  Falls  &  support  my  family  elsewhere,  I  was  then 
in  my  Prime  of  life  (37  yrs  old). 

I  made  diligent  iquiry  about  the  Coal  on  the  Lehigh,  & 
the  C°  which  owned  it  to  the  amount  of  about  10,000  acres, 
and  it  occured  to  me  that  I  could  make  such  a  moove  in  that 
Coal  &  Navign  of  the  Lehigh  &  thus  get  out  of  my  difficulties. 

I  proposed  this  to  Jos  Gillingham,  but  he  discouraged  it. 
finally  I  concluded  to  go  on  the  ground  to  examine  the  River 
&  the  Coal  to  judge  if  any  thing  could  be  done.  &  on  the  23 
or  24  of  12  mo  1817  I  concluded  to  Start  for  its  examination. 
And  as  I  felt  too  poor  to  hire  a  horse,  if  I  could  borrow  one, 

74 


not  having  one  of  my  own,  I  applied  to  Jos  Gillingham  to  loan 
me  his  Horse,  which  he  declined  doing  saying  the  Roads  were 
so  Ruff  his  horse  would  not  stand  it,  &  further  tried  to  dis- 
courage my  going. 

I  concluded  that  the  Horse  could  stand  the  journey  as 
well  as  myself,  &  if  I  was  willing  to  expose  myself,  &  he  not 
willing  to  expose  his  Horse,  that  all  future  connection  was  at 
an  end  with  him,  in  Relation  to  the  Lehigh  project,  &  if  I 
found  prospects  there  desireable  I  would  not  let  him  know 
anything  about  it. 

Things  then  looked  so  promising  that  myself  G  F  a  Hauto 
&  E  Hazard  obtained  a  lease  for  the  10,000  acres  coal  land  for 
20  y8  for  an  Ear  of  Corn  pr  year  if  demanded  &  got  the  Law 
for  improve  the  Lehigh  by  2  mo  18,  1818,  &  all  without  JG 
knowing  anything  about  it. 


75 


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(H.JAN23  1995 


A     000719897     1 


